Some kids may hop to this beat.
A frog frets when he can’t make music.
Frankie the frog can’t croak, as hard as he tries. Unlike his fellow frogs, who easily break out into their signature sounds, and other pond denizens who produce their own natural utterances, Frankie can’t make a sound. One night, he hears glorious tones…and encounters humans, each of whom is playing, for a princess’s benefit, a melody-producing object Frankie dubs a “music machine.” Frankie rushes home and creates his own “machine,” which he calls Banjo; after considerable practice, he produces wonderful music. This is overheard by friends whom Frankie promptly helps as they devise instruments, too. Forming a quartet and developing a solid reputation, the group decides to enter the annual Croak Competition. Undeterred when told that only croakers can participate, Frankie invents a “froggy machine” that, well, croaks to beat the band. This is a thin, unoriginal story, but it could encourage readers to persevere in pursuit of their dreams; kids who can’t carry a tune might even consider taking up an instrument to fulfill any musical ambitions. The illustrations are the draw here—full of energy, liveliness, and wit, they populate a charming natural world with cheery, big-eyed, personable frogs and other animals of all sizes, some dressed in retro garb. Hartas stimulates interest with art that varies among full-page illustrations, panels, and spot-art pieces.
Some kids may hop to this beat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8075-2543-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 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
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BOOK REVIEW
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