The layout and concept deserve better material.
The use of tools by nonhuman animals is explored via 11 animals, each with its own watercolor portrait, rhymed couplet and explanatory gloss.
Unfortunately, in the attempt to rhyme, most of the couplets fail to be clear or memorable. Even the prose is not always clear, as in “Elephants strip leaves from branches. They use the stripped branches to swat flies or other insects that bite them.” (Are the “other insects” attacking the flies or the elephants?) The author’s note is equally difficult to read, perhaps attempting, but failing, to adapt to beginning readers. Probably the best verse—and also the most whimsical art—is this: “Here’s a deer who’s quite well dressed, / wearing grass to look his best.” The single sentence that follows adds, anthropomorphically, “Male red deer smear their antlers with mud or grass to appear bigger and fiercer to other males and more attractive to females.” The sturdy stag is staring into the distance, its antlers interlaced with ferns and grasses. Depictions of flora and fauna show excellent composition and promising, if overworked, artistry, but at the book’s beginning and end, awkward paintings of children sadly match dismally unimaginative verses: “Tools help us everywhere, / on the earth and in the air.” Alas: Where are the limericks of yore, with the pelican whose “bill can hold more than his belican”?
The layout and concept deserve better material. (author’s note, list of animals’ habitat ranges, resources for children, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-58089-564-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn.
A young owl achieves his grand ambition.
Owl, an adorably earnest and gallant little owlet, dreams of being a knight. He imagines himself defeating dragons and winning favor far and wide through his brave exploits. When a record number of knights go missing, Owl applies to Knight School and is surprisingly accepted. He is much smaller than the other knights-in-training, struggles to wield weapons, and has “a habit of nodding off during the day.” Nevertheless, he graduates and is assigned to the Knight Night Watch. While patrolling the castle walls one night, a hungry dragon shows up and Owl must use his wits to avoid meeting a terrible end. The result is both humorous and heartwarming, offering an affirmation of courage and clear thinking no matter one’s size…and demonstrating the power of a midnight snack. The story never directly addresses the question of the missing knights, but it is hinted that they became the dragon’s fodder, leaving readers to question Owl’s decision to befriend the beast. Humor is supplied by the characters’ facial expressions and accented by the fact that Owl is the only animal in his order of big, burly human knights. Denise’s accomplished digital illustrations—many of which are full bleeds—often use a warm sepia palette that evokes a feeling of antiquity, and some spreads feature a pleasing play of chiaroscuro that creates suspense and drama.
A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-31062-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
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