Satisfying siblinghood in a promising series starter.
A mouse grapples with the concepts of brotherhood, species, and family solidarity.
A longtime writer for very early readers launches a new series incorporating graphic-novel reading techniques and gentle humor. To introduce the story, the mouse, Figgy, explains how to read panels and the difference between speech and thought bubbles. In the first chapter, Figgy’s friend Boone patiently tries to help him understand that they are not brothers. Figgy’s a mouse; Boone is a rat. In spite of their similarities, they’re different species—cousins. In the second chapter, after learning that a hamster is also a cousin, Figgy uses that label for all his friends. But when Figgy encounters a kitten, Boone has to explain the food chain. In the final chapter, the kitten’s mother arrives and captures Figgy. Boone comes to the rescue by providing a distraction, and, in a heartwarming moment, he calls Figgy “my brother” after all. The cartoon animals are depicted with bold outlines and flat colors. Throughout, there are clues as to what might happen next, beginning with the mention of a cat in the introduction. Though different, Boone and Figgy are fun foils for each other. Boone would clearly prefer to be working on more complicated ideas; the illustrations show him working with math and science, but he does take time to sketch out the food chain for his friend. Figgy, in turn, produces “family trees” and a list of his favorite foods. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Satisfying siblinghood in a promising series starter. (Graphic early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66591-449-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Simon Spotlight
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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