A worthy message about managing the population of street cats marred by flat writing.
Ethan and his older brother, Sam, are walking to school on a city street when Ethan notices several stray cats.
Ethan asks Sam if he thinks their father would allow them to get a pet cat. Sam attempts to dissuade him (“These cats aren’t pets”), but Ethan can’t stop thinking about them. He stops by to see them and gives them names. “Misty is curious, Fluffy is shy, and the littlest, Dusty, is bold.” When the boys visit the library, Ethan learns about cats’ needs and later notices a sign outside the animal clinic: “TRAP NEUTER RETURN.” Sam explains that neuter means preventing cats from having kittens, and the boys enter the clinic. They leave with three humane traps, entice the cats with tuna, and accompany them to the clinic to ensure that the strays will not bring new kittens into the world. Although the information on trap-neuter-return in the backmatter instructs readers to ask clinics about volunteers who might assist them, the boys carry out the mission by themselves. Adults—such as the vet and the boys’ father—are mentioned, but none appear in the cartoonish, mixed-media illustrations. Though the subject matter is appealing, the didactic, purposeful text likely won’t interest most readers. The brothers have dark brown skin and curly hair.
A worthy message about managing the population of street cats marred by flat writing. (resources) (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781534471320
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
A close encounter of the best kind.
Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.
While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.
A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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