Though on the tame side, it’s still a sweet story about a boy and a dog rescuing each other.
What happens when pets resemble even the youngest, grumpiest of owners?
A mother takes her two kids—curmudgeon Billy and older sister Sara, both white—to Perfect Pets, a storefront animal rescue shelter. Mom worries about frown-wearing Billy, and she hopes that the trip to the shelter will bring a smile to her son’s face. “Who couldn’t help but smile with so much cuteness everywhere?” Billy, that’s who. Unlike Billy, a diverse group of future dog owners grin as they hold, play, and hug prospective pets—even Sara finds joy with kittens. Billy, it turns out, “was not amused.” Past the ranks of happy dogs in crates and beyond the food, toy, bed, and kibble aisles, Billy hears growls, barks, and hisses. There, in the back of the store, Billy finds the titular grumpy pets. Looking out from rows and columns of animal crates are scruffy, grouchy, crabby faces—not unlike the story’s protagonist’s. Billy, soon having found his match, points at a moody gray puppy and delivers the only three words of dialogue: “I’ll take him!” A volunteer hands the puppy over to Billy, and for the first time since readers meet Billy, he indeed smiles. In a style reminiscent of Scott Campbell's in Hug Machine (2014), Lombardi’s expressive illustrations and straightforward dialogue together deliver a benevolent, breezy tale.
Though on the tame side, it’s still a sweet story about a boy and a dog rescuing each other. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1888-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Whether spoken by a dinosaur or a human, this parental message clearly radiates “I’ve loved you from the start.”
The cover’s glowing golden stars are but a small hint of the parent-child love inside.
In this companion book to the creators’ I Love You, My Little Unicorn (2022), a world full of digitally created dinosaurs illustrated in eye-catching colors dominates the pages. From the start, it’s clear that dinosaur parents have the same hopes and dreams for their offspring that human parents do. Readers don’t have to be dinosaur fans to smile when the parent-and-child dinosaur pairs playfully interact and share loving glances. Take special note of the ankylosauruses, whose tails arc to form a heart beneath a sky filled with heart-shaped clouds. The text in verse shares words of unconditional parental love and support and wisdom (“please remember all these things / that I want you to know”), appropriate for humans and dinos alike. “Roar with all your might!” “Spread your wings and fly.” “Use your voice, and ask for help.” There’s even a caveat that some “days will be dark / and other shades of gray.” But “there’s always brightness up ahead.” While the loving sentiments in the storytelling are clear, words are sometimes inverted to make the rhyme work, and the verse doesn’t always follow a consistent meter, but prereading will let the story shine during quiet snuggle times.
Whether spoken by a dinosaur or a human, this parental message clearly radiates “I’ve loved you from the start.” (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781728268361
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
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