Bedtime desires are gently portrayed and gathered up until it is indeed sleepy-time in this cuddlesome import. (Picture...
The animals of the rain forest settle down for sleep, but they are disturbed by the sounds of the night in this cumulative story.
Orangutan responds first to the “WUAAaah WUAAaah WUAAaah.” “Why are you crying, little one?” he asks of the young creature lying in an old box. It snuffles and says, “Because…hic…hic, because I’m cold.” Orangutan brings a blanket and the hope that warmth will bring peace and quiet. But 10 minutes later, there’s crying again. Tapir brings a bowl of fresh water to the thirsty little one. And so it goes on, as the awakened animals become increasingly cranky. Finally, not comforted by what the animals have brought, the little one admits he wants his mummy. Tiger comes back riding on the mother elephant, and the now-revealed, very large baby gets a kiss “that can be heard all over the forest.” Everyone settles down, but then: “WUU WUU WUUUuu.” The animals are really upset this time, but the little elephant knows it is a child crying in the village and shouts, “THAT CHILD MUST HAVE A KISS!” Watercolor, ink and crayon pictures are bright and textured, and despite their interrupted sleep, all the animals are smiling. The bear balancing the tray of honey sweets and mango on its back is particularly fetching.
Bedtime desires are gently portrayed and gathered up until it is indeed sleepy-time in this cuddlesome import. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-55498-332-2
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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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