Fast-paced fun and hijinks.
Even rotten possums get happy endings.
Carl’s a “bad-to-the-bone” possum. He pops kids’ balloons and licks their ice cream. Hunched over his “villainous devices,” he also plots world domination. Being nasty is lonely, so Carl gets creative: He’ll literally make friends. He orders a “Possum Populator” machine so he can create new “perfect” possum pals as nefarious as himself. Carl ignores the instruction manual, sloppily assembling the machine himself. The carelessly scrambled machine goofs; instead of a “possum empire,” it spits out a “penguin jazz choir.” Carl’s furious, though the performing penguins become the toast of the town. His subsequent commands to the Populator yield no better results, producing pigeon poops, playful pandas, and various other animals and foods beginning with P. Besieged Carl finally consults the manual and fixes his machine, but the screen says it won’t work for 100 years! Seems Carl is doomed to be alone. But wait—is that a balloon-busting, ice cream–licking, “bad-to-the-bone” penguin seeking his acquaintance? Kids will giggle over this comically inventive story and Carl’s exaggeratedly humorous wickedness and will enjoy coming up with additional outlandish P possibilities the Populator could deliver. The dynamic, colorful digital illustrations are equally riotous, conveying sound effects and deploying typographical creativeness.
Fast-paced fun and hijinks. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2024
ISBN: 9781368099776
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
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
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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