A strikingly original look at a most unusual marine creature.
What makes the parrotfish so special?
The creators of Stinkbird Has a Superpower (2023) have produced another informative, funny, and engaging tale centered on a bizarre animal fact. Boastful Parrotfish really wants to tell a hammerhead shark about its superpower, but the shark keeps interrupting. Parrotfish builds suspense by revealing other fun facts: Some parrotfish sleep in a mucus sac; they have about 1,000 hard teeth, which resemble a beak; they eat algae and polyps; and they have even more teeth in their throats! As amazing as these facts are, however, they aren’t the parrotfish’s superpower. Finally, our hero points out a sandy shore and says, “Guess who made that beach? Me!” The shark is skeptical (“You’re saying you eat coral, then poop it out as white sand…Which washes ashore….And becomes that beach?”), surprised, and finally impressed—and, as he demonstrates that he has a useful ability of his own, a friendship is born. As in Stinkbird, Shea’s colorful cartoon illustrations add greatly to the humor. Dramatic expressions and body language convey emotion, and the backgrounds provide a reasonable sense of the animals’ habitat. Parrotfish is bright eyed and vibrantly colored; the shark shows off sharp teeth. Color-coded speech bubbles convey the characters’ conversation, making it easy to identify who’s saying what. The lively presentation and ick factor make this a winner. The beach scene depicts racially diverse humans.
A strikingly original look at a most unusual marine creature. (list of true/false statements about parrotfish) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9780593532010
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
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
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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