Fans will want to emulate the style and voice of this funny homework saga. (Picture book. 5-8)
During the opening scene, in which Gus hands the teacher his report and a wrapped present, kindred spirits will suspect that there’s a story behind his extra-dazzling smile.
The protagonist lives on a farm with his parents, a younger brother, and 17 sheep. (Both humans and sheep are white.) His paper views the animals through his unique lens, starting with gender: “A girl sheep is a ewe. If you say, ‘Hey, Ewe,’ she won’t answer.” He describes trading his sibling for a lamb and trying to teach the flock how to skateboard. It is when he shepherds the lot into the house that chaos erupts. In combination with her preposterous situations, Birdsall’s deadpan narrative leaves plenty of room for Bliss to invent comedic scenes. Children will chuckle as the sheep wreak havoc: spaghetti-sauce tracks are traceable to the culprit sporting shades and underwear, a painting frames a bemused face, and sofa stuffing serves as dinner. The bucolic watercolor-and-ink compositions portray wooly creatures that are generally phlegmatic and brothers who enjoy comic books as much as they do their ovine companions. Text appears on old-school penmanship lines and in dialogue bubbles. To her credit (and despite losing a scarf to the cause), Ms. Smolinski seems to appreciate her student’s creativity and affection for his pets.
Fans will want to emulate the style and voice of this funny homework saga. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-385-75570-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
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
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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