Gently conveyed lessons in friendship and trust.
Jokes aside, this bull owns a china shop.
Our hero, whom readers will recognize from Clovis Keeps His Cool (2021), sells attractive merchandise in his cozy store. He has decorated for the winter holidays and put out tea and caramels for friends and customers. But several items—a silver sugar bowl, sugar lumps, tea lights—have disappeared. Is someone stealing? Clovis begins eyeing customers warily and even explodes at his friends at football practice. Suspicion’s bad for business; customers stop coming. Things still disappear. Clovis lays a nighttime trap for the thief by preparing caramels and soon discovers the burglar, who’s been on the premises all along: a mouse who “borrowed” his merchandise for a tea party. Clovis explodes—in laughter—explaining the difference between borrowing and stealing. “Next time, little mouse, ask me,” he tells her. “I may be a bull, but I’m no bully.” The remorseful rodent in turn reminds Clovis that he’s displayed a fierce temper in the past. Chastened, he decides to apologize to the friends he offended; the shop’s warm ambience is restored. This cute but thin story is appealing, though the denouement falls somewhat flat. The message about asking permission to borrow things is important, yet the mouse never explains if she planned to return what she took. Still, the vividly hued illustrations are comically lively. Towering Clovis is blustery yet able to mend his ways—also a good lesson—and the all-animal cast is endearing.
Gently conveyed lessons in friendship and trust. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781645678991
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 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
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
