One morning, Mr. Peek, the mustachioed zookeeper, dons his son’s small jacket by mistake, pops a button and spends the next hours feeling fat, old and paranoid. As he makes his rounds, denigrating his fat old self, the zoo animals think he’s talking to them… to highly distressing effect. “All that terrible food you eat will be the end of you!” Mr. Peek proclaims too near the recently fed penguins. “Look how wrinkly you are,” he says within elephants’ earshot. The 17-page foray into adult neurosis reverses when he figures out the jacket mix-up and repeats his rounds, now uttering self-confident proclamations such as, “You look fine just the way you are.” However, since the resulting reassurance of the animals is just as accidental as the initial wounding, the story ends up feeling flip and flimsy. The digitally crafted illustrations—a delightful cross between Calef Brown and J. otto Seibold—are packed with quirky, comical details and a fun-to-spot cat. A jaunty but disconcertingly adult read-aloud that could generate, along with a few giggles, a discussion of misunderstandings. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4549-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2010
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
Turkey’s in the “kind of trouble where it’s almost Thanksgiving...and you’re the main course.” Accordingly, Turkey tries on disguise after disguise, from horse to cow to pig to sheep, at each iteration being told that he looks nothing like the animal he’s trying to mimic (which is quite true, as Harper’s quirky watercolors make crystal clear). He desperately squeezes a red rubber glove onto his head to pass as a rooster, only to overhear the farmer suggest a poultry plan B when he’s unable to turn up the turkey. Turkey’s horrified expression as he stands among the peppers and tomatoes—in November? Chalk it up to artistic license—is priceless, but his surroundings give him an idea. Good fun, but it may lead to a vegetarian table or two. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5529-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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