A sweet and silly tale of a raucous yet deeply courageous pup.
A new fur baby attempts to earn her place in the heya.
Following the misadventures of SumoKitty (2019), the black-and-white feline diligently watches over the heya, or training center, alongside Kuma, the yokozuna, or grand champion. While they both have grown in skill—Kuma in sumo, the cat in hunting for mice—the friends are older now and want to pass down their knowledge. While Kuma is already busy teaching, SumoKitty longs for a student, lamenting that kittens live too far away, “on the other side of the river.” Surprisingly, a pug puppy dubbed Chanko-chan is brought to the heya. Chanko-chan quickly chooses SumoKitty as her target of affection; a montage of the annoyances the kitty endures ensues. SumoKitty attempts to teach the pup to catch mice, with disastrous results, and Chanko-chan is kicked out. But the little dog’s dedication and bravery are unmatched, and she finds a way to prove herself to the sumo wrestlers. The spare narrative leaves most of the humor and emotional arc of the story to the detailed illustrations. Cool colors are juxtaposed with warmer tones, and while the humans are depicted realistically, the animals have a more cartoonish look, especially bug-eyed Chanko-chan. The tale is set in Japan, and Japanese terms are interspersed throughout, along with definitions. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sweet and silly tale of a raucous yet deeply courageous pup. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-62354-301-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
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
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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