A nifty bilingual treat.
Move over, Puss in Boots and Cat in the Hat; now there’s el Perro con Sombrero and el Gato con Zapatos.
Pepe is a homeless, hungry, and very sad dog until a fancy sombrero lands on his head. Almost immediately, a grocer spots him and is so impressed by this handsome canine that he gives Pepe a bone. A movie director in a flashy sports car then demands that Pepe star in his movies. From Westerns to comedies, Pepe’s a box office hit. But despite the monetary windfall and fancy digs, he still yearns for a family and a real home. Enter el gato—the jealous movie star Pepe has displaced. Wearing fabulous, zoot suit–ready purple shoes, the cat steals the sombrero. The chase is on! Apples tumble down supermarket aisles, popcorn rains over movie theater seats, a wedding cake meets its doom, and finally, the line is drawn in a park sandbox. Claws and fangs at 20 paces. Henry’s retro-style mixed-media illustrations—pencil, watercolor, and digitalized watercolor—neatly suit Kent’s spunky, lighthearted, fully bilingual story. Lugo’s translation appears in red type beneath Kent’s English text, paragraph by paragraph.
A nifty bilingual treat. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: May 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9989-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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BOOK REVIEW
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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
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