Raucous storytime fun.
A cloven-hoofed librarian can’t be too bad…right?
A pinkish-purple-haired, blue-lidded alpaca has suddenly and inexplicably taken over the library. Alpacas may be soft and cuddly, but as the narrator (and title) warns, “Alpacas make TERRIBLE librarians!” They make distracting sounds, and their angry noises (“AHHH HEEE HAWWW HEEE”) are even louder than their calm ones (“Cluck cluck cluck cluck hum hum hum hum”). Alpacas love to host storytime outside (“If there’s one thing this librarian loves, it’s grass”), but if you need to use the bathroom once you’re out there, the alpaca will direct you to the “communal dung pile.” Most importantly, don’t try to check out a book about a llama—the alpaca will get very upset, and a slobbery reprimand might come flying your way. Packed with alpaca facts, the cheeky narrative might also start a discussion on censorship with young readers (the alpaca tosses out all books about other animals). Bright illustrations and energetic text placement, with tilted angles and bold-faced words, add to the chaos the alpaca brings. The younger, human library enthusiasts are a diverse bunch.
Raucous storytime fun. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781957655284
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Gnome Road Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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
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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