Friendship at its best.
Four heartwarming stories deepen the exploration of friendship introduced in Bear and Bird: The Picnic (2023).
“Bestest” pals Bird and Bear have quarreled. Neither can remember why; both vaguely blame a spoon. Each sets out to find a replacement friend before inevitably reuniting, recognizing their affinities, and laughing at themselves. In “The Cake,” Bear comes across a treat that doesn’t belong to him and greedily inhales it. Remorseful, he bakes a replacement, adding ingredients (fish, flies, worms, etc.) to please every possible owner. The story closes by engaging readers: “Would you have tried a slice of Bear’s cake?” Attempts to keep their promises accidentally lead to the two becoming separated in “The Rock.” But not for long. In “The Stars,” the two gaze up at the sky and decide everything is perfect. Almost. Both friends imagine add-ons, starting with cocoa (food figures in every story) and escalating to a pure fantasy that leads them to reaffirm their friendship. The book has occasional italics and small hand-lettering on signs, a few challenging words (coincidence, mechanical), and one unusual word (dung), but most of the text is easy to read, in clear type. These humorous, touching, imaginative stories are matched by illustrations with the same qualities. Naïve-looking, soft-colored flat backgrounds focus attention on the black-outlined animals, especially the textured, stuffy-like bear and simplified bluebird, both expressive and huggable.
Friendship at its best. (Chapter book. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9781536231380
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 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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Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.
With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?
Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.
Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7033-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
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