An amusing romp that will have landlubbers and scurvy sea dogs alike giggling.
When a very dim pirate mistakes a penguin for a parrot, confusion ensues.
When a small penguin slips on an icy cliff and lands on the deck of a sailing ship, the tan-skinned pirate assumes that it’s a longed-for parrot with faded plumage—remedying that with a paint pot. The penguin is not amused and, rather than cooperatively perch on the pirate’s shoulder, furiously attacks the pirate. The pirate tries to elicit some parrot-talk, producing a lexicon of pirate slang: “Batten down the hatches?” “Mizzenmast?” "Hornswoggle?” “Doubloons?” “Booty?” When the pirate offers a cracker, the penguin spits it out, and the irate pirate responds with anger (“SNOGGERS!” “ ’Tis Mutiny!”). But when the penguin walks the plank, the pirate is remorseful (“I be a rotting rapscallion!”). Then the penguin returns with a welcome gift of fish, and the pirate concludes that, strange as the “parrot” seems, “I like ye just the way ye arrrrrrrr.” Dialogue balloons are black with white type; splashes of parrot-paint color enliven the neutral ship setting. Varied compositions often feature small insets on large spreads; this one will be a great read-aloud to an audience close enough to see the images. The solitary pirate is a cartoon figure, drawn with every stereotypical accoutrement except an eye patch: peg leg, hook hand, gray beard, and 18th-century attire. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An amusing romp that will have landlubbers and scurvy sea dogs alike giggling. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781645677123
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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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
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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