A sweetly simple story with a straightforward, if somewhat superficial, message of altruism.
A young hamster is too focused on winning to stop and help others in need, until a mishap of his own teaches him that kindness matters more than speed.
Ned has been training hard for the Great Garden Hamster Race. Hamsters have gathered from around the globe, and though many of them look speedy, Ned is determined to win. Nothing will slow him down—not even encounters with a lost slug, hungry pigeons, and a rabbit trapped in a hole. But soon, Ned needs some help himself. When a passing fox treats him with unexpected kindness, Ned realizes that caring for others is more important than winning. He retraces his steps to help the other animals in distress. Long after dark, Ned is still running the race, but the end is in sight. He finds the other hamsters waiting for him so they can all cross the finish line together. The turning point focuses primarily on Ned’s actions rather than his thoughts or emotions; because the book doesn’t explore the motivation behind his change of heart, the message feels somewhat diminished. Still, it’s a feel-good tale, and the illustrations, painted in chunky brushstrokes with handwritten speech bubbles, brim with stylistic appeal.
A sweetly simple story with a straightforward, if somewhat superficial, message of altruism. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593659045
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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
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