When it comes to cultivating a love of nature, this oldest of stories has something to share with us all.
An old saint’s tale inspires a brand-new spin on the act of caring for nature.
When Kevin’s impoverished parents hand him over to the nearby monastery, they vow that they’ll come for him when they’re able. While there, Kevin learns reading, hymns, and prayers, but the only thing that assuages his longing for his parents is his love of the natural world. The nearby animals grow to trust Kevin. So when the monks tell him he must now stay indoors to pray and study quietly, he can’t resist reaching his hands out a window to a blackbird. Soon the bird and its mate construct a nest in Kevin’s outstretched hands. Realizing that what’s happening is miraculous, the monks feed Kevin as his birds hatch, grow, and fledge. The tale ends with a wordless scene of Kevin reuniting with his parents as the whole countryside romps with the wild animals. In an author’s note, Almond points out that this adaptation of an Irish legend is about a saint for our times. Lynch brings his hyper-realistic style to bear on a world of frolicsome foxes, trusting birds, and studious monks. Many images, such as one of the nest thrust toward the audience, will remain in young minds long after the rest of the book has faded from memory. Characters present white.
When it comes to cultivating a love of nature, this oldest of stories has something to share with us all. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781536238075
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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