A madcap series opener with a wink or two at some topical themes.
When an evil toymaker threatens to release a fleet of robot pigeon spy drones, it’s up to urban raccoon Remy to organize and lead the resistance.
A series of break-ins by a masked bandit that looks just like him (even down to the recycled sneakers) prompts Remington Raccoon to recruit a Critter Crew of mice and rats (the pigeons refuse to cooperate) to help clear his name. But his investigation soon turns up a larger threat, as human gadgeteer Walter Fry has concocted not just a robotic raccoon thief, but an army of other robo-rodents—and, worse yet, flights of titanium-plated pigeon spy drones. Will Fry succeed in his ostensibly altruistic but ominous scheme to put the entire city under surveillance? Not so fast! Thanks to late but timely help from the pigeons, a “perfect storm of rodent rage” in the streets leads to ultimate victory for the furry and feathered defenders of the right to privacy. Sherry creates his headlong kickoff with page-filling, monochrome ink-and-wash cartoons with dialogue and narrative in several big, hand-lettered–style types. Led by tough-looking mayor Sheila Spike, human figures all appear to be white but are also rare in the multispecies cast. Throughout, Remy shows a gift for oratory (“We may all be different, but when we work together, there is nothing we can’t do!”) that may serve him well should he go into politics. First, though, he has a new problem, as the episode ends with the shocking discovery that the entirety of his precious trash collection has mysteriously disappeared. Stay tuned.
A madcap series opener with a wink or two at some topical themes. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 6-8)Pub Date: April 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-03460-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
A close encounter of the best kind.
Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.
While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.
A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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