A breath of fresh air for the series.
Fox and Pig have some fun—and laughs—in the sun.
Perky pals Fox and Pig, with Fox’s doll (Mister Fox) in tow, decide to head to the beach. Pig enjoys napping (and slurping on a refreshing beverage). Fox, on the other hand, prefers to dig. While Pig slumbers, Fox attempts to trick his porcine friend by making a sand sculpture of himself and pretending to be buried under it. That scheme ultimately backfires, but Fox isn’t deterred. He tries again. This time he digs a hole to hide in, throws Mister Fox into the sea, and screams for help. As the tide comes in, Fox’s hole fills with water, and he uses a straw to breathe. Pig isn’t fooled—“I know THAT fox is just a doll”—and decides to cool off by jumping into the small pool. Oh no. He lands on a lump. Is that Fox underneath him or a creature from the sea? As with others in this series, color-coded speech bubbles, rhymes, and word repetition help support (and entertain) emerging readers. Fenske uses a simple, limited vocabulary, with a few longer words such as underneath, creature, and COWABUNGA. This three-part romp (more like two with a short third) takes familiar characters to a summery new setting. The silent crab character provides extra comedic relief while witnessing the cartoonish antics.
A breath of fresh air for the series. (Early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9780593661215
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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