Little Pig’s parents are fusspots. They can’t protect their little pig enough from the big bad world. It might be sunny and warm, but they swathe him in a scarf. The bathtub is an accident waiting to happen. They see in pasta a potential menace: “Sugar-dumpling,” they warble to Little Pig, “If you’re eating spaghetti please be careful. If you eat quickly you’ll get spaghetti all over yourself! You won’t be able to digest properly, and you could even choke!” So when they send Little Pig off with his Snout Troop for a hike, he is outfitted as if on an expedition to the far Hindu Kush: nose bathed in zinc oxide, glacier glasses, leggings, water wings just in case. But their worrywart radar isn’t working when they fail to notice the substitute troop leader, Ravenous, has a rack of sharp teeth in his mouth. The hike is a fiasco—Ravenous doesn’t care if the snouts eat all their food in the first five minutes (Little Pig, of course, has a whole sackful of sandwiches), or swim in the most dangerous part of the river, or get sunburned or stung by mosquitoes. It falls to Little Pig to figure out that Ravenous is a wolf in swinish hiking shorts and save the pack’s bacon. Yes, Little Pig is not only prepared, he is capable of utilizing that preparedness. Roche’s (It’s My City, 2001, etc.) bright, gawky, and very funny art makes having anxious parents seem like fun. Goofy stills of straight-armed, skinny-legged Little Pig suffering his parents’ silliness give his steady hand real appeal, rather than turning him into a party pooper. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 25, 2002
ISBN: 0-395-91368-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A book that will make young dog-owners smile in recognition and confirm dogless readers' worst suspicions about the mayhem caused by pets, even winsome ones. Sam, who bears passing resemblance to an affable golden retriever, is praised for fetching the family newspaper, and goes on to fetch every other newspaper on the block. In the next story, only the children love Sam's swimming; he is yelled at by lifeguards and fishermen alike when he splashes through every watering hole he can find. Finally, there is woe to the entire family when Sam is bored and lonely for one long night. Boland has an essential message, captured in both both story and illustrations of this Easy-to-Read: Kids and dogs belong together, especially when it's a fun-loving canine like Sam. An appealing tale. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8037-1530-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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