In short poems arranged for two voices, a dog converses with forest denizens (owl, moth, squirrel) and features (a trail, a brook, a tree): “Woodpecker, / Woodpecker, / what do you see? / Juicy bugs / inside this tree!” Some of the exchanges are inane—to a hungry spider: “Spider, Spider, / looking thinner. / Haven’t had a thing for dinner! / Maybe you built your web too high. / I want to catch a buzzy fly! /And if the fly just buzzes by? / I’ll sit here by myself and sigh”—but Harrison does at least vary the verse structure toward the end, and Johnson-Petrov’s woodland scenes, thinly brushed onto rough canvas, feature an appealingly wide-eyed border collie that bounds about all day, then returns for an affectionate nose-to-nose reunion with his master. An acceptable, if uneven, read-aloud candidate. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-59078-242-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2005
With an eye toward easy memorization, Katz gathers over 50 short poems from the likes of Emily Dickinson, Valerie Worth, Jack Prelutsky, and Lewis Carroll, to such anonymous gems as “The Burp”—“Pardon me for being rude. / It was not me, it was my food. / It got so lonely down below, / it just popped up to say hello.” Katz includes five of her own verses, and promotes an evident newcomer, Emily George, with four entries. Hafner surrounds every selection with fine-lined cartoons, mostly of animals and children engaged in play, reading, or other familiar activities. Amid the ranks of similar collections, this shiny-faced newcomer may not stand out—but neither will it drift to the bottom of the class. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-525-47172-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004
A dozen familiar dinosaurs introduce themselves in verse in this uninspired, if colorful, new animal gallery from the authors of Commotion in the Ocean (2000). Smiling, usually toothily, and sporting an array of diamonds, lightning bolts, spikes and tiger stripes, the garishly colored dinosaurs make an eye-catching show, but their comments seldom measure up to their appearance: “I’m a swimming reptile, / I dive down in the sea. / And when I spot a yummy squid, / I eat it up with glee!” (“Ichthyosaurus”) Next to the likes of Kevin Crotty’s Dinosongs (2000), illustrated by Kurt Vargo, or Jack Prelutsky’s classic Tyrannosaurus Was A Beast (1988), illustrated by Arnold Lobel, there’s not much here to roar about. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-58925-044-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2005
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