Lively and amusing, this story about making stories will likely find eager listeners—and may just inspire some writing...
A child writes a story about a pet—with some help.
The unnamed protagonist is clearly a creative type who loves this little tiger kitten. Pictured on the title page is evidence of a previous story as well as two larger than life-size portraits of her kitten. Pencils, crayons, and craft supplies spill from a nearby bookcase. Sprawled on the flowered rug, the child begins a new saga. Initial efforts are rejected by the cat, who demands to be referred to as a tiger and advocates for more exciting exploits than chasing yarn and drinking milk. Inspired, the young author is soon wielding watercolors to create a dark jungle, dripping with snakes. Initially enthusiastic, the kitten finds the next few additions a bit intimidating and soon enough declares that it is all “TOO MUCH!” The appealing artwork was created using a variety of media, resulting in a nicely varied, upbeat look. Round eyes and heads, simply drawn shapes, and black outlines give the pictures a cheerful, cartoony feel. Shifts in perspective allow young listeners to become immersed in the story within a story, while subtle details ground the adventure in the cozy real-life setting. Speech balloons and type colors clearly indicate who is speaking in the brief conversational text. The child has pale skin and straight, black hair.
Lively and amusing, this story about making stories will likely find eager listeners—and may just inspire some writing projects, too. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: July 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4164-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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