Not what it says on the tin.
An energetic kid has an energetic day.
A tall, skinny white girl slides gleefully down a bannister, landing atop a tall bear who seems to be her guardian. Bear suggests tea and toast for breakfast, but Lola whips up a feast. At the library, “a little light reading” becomes stacks of books taller than Lola; at the park, Lola and Bear pause—not on a regular bridge but on Claude Monet’s Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, inspired by Lola’s newly acquired knowledge of art. The pencil, gouache, and watercolor illustrations are whimsical and breezy, with a lovely airiness that helps give the lie to the piece’s premise. Both the opening lines—“This is Lola. Lola Dutch. Lola Dutch is a little bit much”—and Bear’s repetition of “a little bit much” or variations thereof imply a mischievous or melodramatic Lola. But in a picture-book world founded by Max and Eloise, Lola’s not intense or naughty; she’s merely exuberant. She elegantly re-creates Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam on her ceiling, adding herself and her friends to it. With a different illustrative style, a child-improvised Sistine Chapel at home could certainly be too “much,” but here it’s neither chaotic nor messy. Given that, the repeated premise chastises and chafes—and implies a call for quieter girls.
Not what it says on the tin. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-551-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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