Music and dance work their magic on a witch—and readers.
Welcome to a community party deep in the woods.
A hare shares his plans for a nighttime woodland dance with his two good friends, an owl and a hedgehog. It won’t be any ordinary party but one in which everyone will bring something, either food or music, and everyone will be invited, “even the wicked witch.” But she is not in a good mood, is too busy anyway, and says no. Being a witch, she is standing over her pot cooking up a potion even as musical notes enter her kitchen. The potion, alas, goes awry, and the witch blames the outside noise. Bent on revenge, she flies to the scene of the party only to be warmly greeted by the hare. Invited to dance, she is soon swept up in steps of joyous abandon. This import from the Netherlands is a literary, rather lengthy tale that can be read by adults as lessons in community and the power of music to bring joy into the hearts of even the wicked. For children, it is an inviting tale of animals sharing good times with friends and with the neighborhood baddie. Delicate pen-and-ink–and-watercolor illustrations with softly hued backgrounds of orange, pink, green, and gray effectively convey the congenial setting, personable partygoers, and free-spirited movement.
Music and dance work their magic on a witch—and readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-935954-50-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lemniscaat USA
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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