Children will find much to laugh at in Skippyjon’s latest adventure, and although much of the wordplay will go over kids’...
That irrepressible, big-eared Siamese cat with an identity complex is back, this time desperate to go to school just like the dogs.
Luckily, Skippyjon Jones has an imagination to match his ears and a Spanish vocabulary to go with the “Chi-wa-la” he sees in the mirror. While his mother and sisters tidy up the house, he heads to his closet, backpack on, to board the school bus. His amigos, Los Chimichangos, are already aboard and ask for his help with the school bully. Before sorting him out, though, Skippito attends some classes—art, music, math, library and French. It’s while the gang is skipping obedience class that they finally run into the “wooly bull-ito.” A quick change transforms Skippyjon into El Skippito Friskito, and he leads the charge. Schachner is a genius when it comes to tongue-in-cheek humor, which she carries through both the rhyming verses scattered throughout the text and the acrylic, pen and ink artwork. The busy illustrations will amuse children and adults alike as they pore over the humorous details. Skippito’s Spanish-laden verses are characteristically broken; his fans won’t mind, but readers in search of authentic Latino representations should look elsewhere.
Children will find much to laugh at in Skippyjon’s latest adventure, and although much of the wordplay will go over kids’ heads, adults who are asked for repeated readings will appreciate it. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-525-42228-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
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Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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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