Cuddly, funny comics will charm the crankiest of readers.
A crabby chicken and her worm BFF achieve friendship goals.
Crowds, trampolines, baths, skipping a nap—there’s plenty that makes Chicken cranky. But “tiny and tickly” Speedy Worm makes Cranky Chicken actively “un-cranky.” Libraries also make Chicken happy, even though “Crankiness is allowed” there. Honestly, Speedy and Chicken are such great friends that dour-looking, unibrowed Chicken spends most of the book looking pretty upbeat. In one story, Speedy and Chicken have different ideas about how to take a nap, but they’re still best friends. In another, Speedy has an existential crisis (are they really a worm, or could they be a cobra, a giraffe, or a brontosaurus?), but the duo’s friendship reigns supreme—indeed, they are “Best Feathered Family forever.” All the while, they help each other learn. Speedy asks Chicken how she knows she’s a hen and not a rooster, and—unibrow thoughtfully cocked up—Chicken explains it’s because she just feels like a hen. Simple shapes and linework bring to life a wonderfully expressive pair in this sweetly silly graphic novel. Chapters are separated by funny vignettes; one especially hilarious page finds Chicken and Speedy in costumes—Chicken as Princess Leia with Speedy as Yoda; Chicken as a worm and Speedy as a chicken; and both dressed as “Stripy Lost Guy” in Where’s Waldo–style red-and-white tops and beanies.
Cuddly, funny comics will charm the crankiest of readers. (Graphic early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9781665914550
Page Count: 116
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
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
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
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