A slight offering focusing on the familiar be-careful-what-you-wish-for trope.
When Bear can’t find the oodles of noodles he craves, he says toodles to the forest.
When Fox invites Bear to her spring party and he doesn’t come, she investigates. She discovers that Bear didn’t hibernate but, instead, watched the popular TV game show Noodle Knockout and gorged on noodles. Now he’s obsessed with them and spurns forest-animal delicacies. Eventually Bear ventures to the city, hoping to become a contestant on the show. As luck would have it, he makes the cut and is ultimately crowned “Grand Noodle Champion.” Now a celebrity, Bear hosts his own cooking show with all the noodles he wants. He should be happy, right? As stories like this go, though, Bear realizes he misses the forest, his cave, and, especially, his BFF, Fox. He returns home and is heartily welcomed by his friends…albeit sans noodles. Unsurprisingly, Bear has returned with a generous supply for everyone. This Australian import aims at being a fresh take on the leaving-one’s-comfort-zone-before-finally-understanding-where-one-genuinely-belongs genre, but its premise, though mildly amusing, is weak and unconvincing. The extent to which youngsters will understand the concept or conventions of game or cooking shows will vary, though Bear’s passion for noodles should resonate. The lively cartoon illustrations are child appealing and feature assorted animal characters.
A slight offering focusing on the familiar be-careful-what-you-wish-for trope. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1107-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
A hilarious autumnal comedy of errors.
A confused squirrel overreacts to the falling autumn leaves.
Relaxing on a tree branch, Squirrel admires the red, gold, and orange leaves. Suddenly Squirrel screams, “One of my leaves is…MISSING!” Searching for the leaf, Squirrel tells Bird, “Someone stole my leaf!” Spying Mouse sailing in a leaf boat, Squirrel asks if Mouse stole the leaf. Mouse calmly replies in the negative. Bird reminds Squirrel it’s “perfectly normal to lose a leaf or two at this time of year.” Next morning Squirrel panics again, shrieking, “MORE LEAVES HAVE BEEN STOLEN!” Noticing Woodpecker arranging colorful leaves, Squirrel queries, “Are those my leaves?” Woodpecker tells Squirrel, “No.” Again, Bird assures Squirrel that no one’s taking the leaves and that the same thing happened last year, then encourages Squirrel to relax. Too wired to relax despite some yoga and a bath, the next day Squirrel cries “DISASTER” at the sight of bare branches. Frantic now, Squirrel becomes suspicious upon discovering Bird decorating with multicolored leaves. Is Bird the culprit? In response, Bird shows Squirrel the real Leaf Thief: the wind. Squirrel’s wildly dramatic, misguided, and hyperpossessive reaction to a routine seasonal event becomes a rib-tickling farce through clever use of varying type sizes and weights emphasizing his absurd verbal pronouncements as well as exaggerated, comic facial expressions and body language. Bold colors, arresting perspectives, and intense close-ups enhance Squirrel’s histrionics. Endnotes explain the science behind the phenomenon.
A hilarious autumnal comedy of errors. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-3520-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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