The final word: there is more than one way to teach a wolf some manners.
Even a superhero sheep can’t go it alone without a trusty sidekick.
Sheep graze. Occasionally they are sheared for their wool, and occasionally they make a fine meal (especially to big bad wolves). But “As far as Arnold is concerned, any old sheep can graze.” Arnold likes to bang out the pushups and chin-ups and to dance around in circles shadowboxing. “ ‘I am a Super Sheep!’ says Arnold. But that’s not what the other sheep think. They just don’t get Arnold.” But Milo the mole does. He thinks Arnold is grand stuff and helps him with his training. When the wolf inevitably shows, all the sheep run and hide, but Arnold stands his ground (with Milo). Arnold challenges the wolf, feinting and jabbing and looking so ridiculous the wolf starts to laugh. Laughing, the wolf doesn’t notice Milo grab a stray end of Arnold’s sweater and tie it to the wolf’s tail. Round and round Arnold goes, till the wolf finally lunges to discover that his feet are all tangled up in Arnold’s diminished sweater. Down the wolf falls on his noggin, getting knocked silly. Whatever the moral of the story—go your own way; when the going gets tough, the weak get tricky—Arnold is a good and sympathetic character, the whole story drawn together by Renger’s easygoing cartoon illustrations
The final word: there is more than one way to teach a wolf some manners. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4413-2650-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peter Pauper Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too many bugs, figuratively.
Lucy, “the youngest member of a family of fireflies,” must overcome an irrational, moon-induced anxiety in order to leave her family tree trunk and glow.
The first six pages pull readers into a lush, beautiful world of nighttime: “When the sun has set, silence falls over the Big Forest, and all of the nighttime animals wake up.” Mixed media provide an enchanting forest background, with stylized flora and fauna eventually illuminated by a large, benign moon, because the night “doesn’t like to catch them by surprise.” Turning the page catches readers by surprise, though: the family of fireflies is decidedly comical and silly-looking. Similarly, the text moves from a lulling, magical cadence to a distinct shift in mood as the bugs ready themselves for their foray into the night: “They wave their bottoms in the air, wiggle their feelers, take a deep, deep breath, and sing, ‘Here we go, it’s time to glow!’ ” It’s an acceptable change, but more unevenness follows. Lucy’s excitement about finally joining the other bugs turns to “sobbing” two nights in a row. Instead of directly linking her behavior to understandable reactions of children to newness, the text undermines itself by making Lucy’s parents’ sweet reassurances impotent and using the grandmother’s scientific explanation of moonlight as an unnecessary metaphor. Further detracting from the story, the text becomes ever denser and more complex over the book’s short span.
Too many bugs, figuratively. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-84-16147-00-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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