Young readers will be pulled in by this humorous charmer.
Even helpers need help sometimes.
Toad’s job as a tow truck driver is so hectic that he doesn’t have time to eat the breakfast his dad’s prepared. “No time, Pop! Can’t stop!” Toad calls, racing out the door. Toad gets caught in heavy traffic as other animals race to their destinations. When one of them breaks down, “that’s where Toad comes in,” giving the beleaguered driver and the car a lift and tow, respectively. “I’m happy to help!” he announces. Caring Dad’s on the scene again, bringing Toad lunch. Toad’s response? “No time, Pop! Can’t stop!” As the day wears on, vehicular mishaps continue. Toad “answers the call” and “tows them all.” Then—uh-oh—his own truck goes kaput! Worse yet, he can’t fix it. What’s a tow truck driver to do when he needs a tow truck driver? Who’s Toad gonna call? Would you believe a great helper—Dad, a tow truck driver himself—comes to the rescue? Back at the family business’s garage, Toad finally finds time to eat. This rollicking story “tows” kids along with its fast-paced humor; its message that everyone occasionally needs assistance will resonate. The clipped text, heightening the sense of on-the-go movement, is comprised of brief sentences and phrases that use basic phonemic elements, making this funny, sweet tale a fine choice for emergent readers. The comical digital illustrations, featuring an all-animal cast, incorporate onomatopoeic sound effects.
Young readers will be pulled in by this humorous charmer. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781774883488
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
