Delightful brother-and-sister snark in squid form—yes, really. (Picture book. 4-7)
In supersaturated oceanic color, squidling Oliver, purple and with top hat and wand, becomes Squid Kid the Magnificent after saying the magic words: “smelly yellow jellyfish.”
His ponytailed, fuchsia older sister, Stella, is unimpressed. When Oliver disappears in a cloud of squid ink, Stella points out that it isn’t magic—any squid can do it. Stella is particularly alarmed by Oliver’s use of her pet cuttlefish, Cuddles, in his act, and she notes that “cuttlefish change colors ALL THE TIME,” and that isn’t magic either. Oliver soldiers on, trying one last trick, but Stella has a trick up her, er, tentacles, too. Oliver’s magician’s patter is quite fine, and Berry’s good use of occasional internal rhyme and alliteration makes this a likely read-aloud. A couple of gatefolds add visual pop to the deep colors, and details charm. There’s the occasional audience of a besotted clam (note the hearts), and a yellow puffer fish acts as silent sidekick to Oliver. It’s hard to decide which is funnier: the single orthodontic bracket on Stella’s beak or Oliver’s magic chant.
Delightful brother-and-sister snark in squid form—yes, really. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4231-6119-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
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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