Third time’s the charm: Groovy Joe may give Pete the Cat a run for his money yet
Groovy Joe adds another song to his repertoire in this third outing.
The guitar-strumming dog and his squirrel pal are back with an adaptation of “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” Joe and the little rodent (who lies on Joe’s bed, with its own tiny pillow and blanket) greet the day, explore, laugh and play, and more over the course of this infectious picture book. Lichtenheld’s colored-pencil–and-watercolor illustrations are characteristically lively, bringing Groovy Joe’s world to life and presenting all sorts of animals ready to engage with the world around them and to encourage little readers to do the same. A recording can be downloaded at the publisher’s website. Characters are all lightly anthropomorphized, accessorized with the occasional canteen, backpack, or hat. As the text consists entirely of song lyrics, none of the animals (save for Joe) are specifically gendered. Such details as a rabbit imagining an enormous carrot as the animals plant a community garden and a family of frogs on a log joining in song with Groovy Joe—not to mention the squirrel’s Band-Aid held at the ready for Groovy Joe as he hugs a porcupine—will keep readers engaged, though there is no apparent overarching narrative storyline.
Third time’s the charm: Groovy Joe may give Pete the Cat a run for his money yet . (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-545-88380-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end.
Something is preventing Owl from falling asleep.
Owl leans back against his white pillow and headboard. “Squeek!” says something underneath the bed. Owl’s never heard that sound before, so he fastens his pink bathrobe and answers the front door. Nobody. It must be the wind; back to bed. Bidding himself goodnight, he climbs into bed—and hears the noise again. Time after time, he pops out of bed seeking the squeaker. Is it in the cupboard? He empties the shelves. Under the floor? He pulls up his floorboards. As Owl’s actions ratchet up—he destroys the roof and smashes the walls, all in search of the squeak—so does his anxiety. Not until he hunkers down in bed under the night sky (his bed is now outdoors, because the house’s roof and walls are gone), frantically clutching his pillow, does he see what readers have seen all along: a small, gray mouse. In simple illustrations with black outlines, textured coloring, and foreshortened perspective, Pizzoli plays mischievously with mouse placement. Sometimes the mouse is behind Owl or just out of his sightline; other times, the mouse is on a solid, orange-colored page across the spread from Owl, which removes him from Owl’s scene in a rather postmodern manner. Is the mouse toying with Owl? Who knows?
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-1275-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat.
Dinos that love to move and groove get children counting from one to 10—and perhaps moving to the beat.
Beginning with a solo bop by a female dino (she has eyelashes, doncha know), the dinosaur dance party begins. Each turn of the page adds another dino and a change in the dance genre: waltz, country line dancing, disco, limbo, square dancing, hip-hop, and swing. As the party would be incomplete without the moonwalk, the T. Rex does the honors…and once they are beyond their initial panic at his appearance, the onlookers cheer wildly. The repeated refrain on each spread allows for audience participation, though it doesn’t easily trip off the tongue: “They hear a swish. / What’s this? / One more? / One more dino on the floor.” Some of the prehistoric beasts are easily identifiable—pterodactyl, ankylosaurus, triceratops—but others will be known only to the dino-obsessed; none are identified, other than T-Rex. Packed spreads filled with psychedelically colored dinos sporting blocks of color, stripes, or polka dots (and infectious looks of joy) make identification even more difficult, to say nothing of counting them. Indeed, this fails as a counting primer: there are extra animals (and sometimes a grumpy T-Rex) in the backgrounds, and the next dino to join the party pokes its head into the frame on the page before. Besides all that, most kids won’t get the dance references.
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1598-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
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