A young vivisectionist recombines the livestock in this “Old MacDonald” outtake. To verses constructed along familiar lines, the lab-coated farm lad in Milgrim’s lighthearted cartoons cobbles together a device from found junk that painlessly puts a pig’s head atop a horse’s body to make a “Hig,” then produces feathered “Deese,” that call out “Hee-Honk,” a woolly “Shicken” (“Baak-Baa”) and so on in quick succession. An accident while stepping onto the machine with a dog gives the budding Doctor Moreau a taste of his own medicine (“with an Oops-Arf here / And an Oops-Arf there”), but he manages to restore the natural order just as his parents come back carrying pizza for all. He’s last seen tucked into bed with a book on cloning. Milgrim’s portmanteau creations aren’t as creatively mixed as those in Jack Prelutsky’s Scranimals (2002, illustrated by Peter Sís) or Kenyon Cox’s Mixed Beasts (2005, illustrated by Wallace Edwards), but younger audiences will enjoy this playful (and topical) rendition of the sing-along favorite. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-525-47570-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2006
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
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