Enormous fun.
When two Steves meet, each needs to establish his superiority.
They argue about everything, including which one appeared first—“BY ONE PAGE,” the other protests. One is slightly older, so he should be Steve the First. One is wiser, one is taller, and there are claims of faster and stronger. They even challenge each other about their ability to catch fish, which would be odd if they were human, but these Steves are puffins. Then the tone of their competition changes, and the insults begin, making them feel bad. But they are essentially kindhearted, and they apologize and decide to be friends. They go bowling together—an outing that ends with a big surprise that might change everything. The puffins are akin to 6-year-olds; there is no real malice, but they vie for king of the playground. Hood employs simple, childlike syntax, including just enough grossness to ensure giggles from young readers. It’s a great read-aloud for two voices, as they each escalate in intensity and then come together in agreement. Sharply delineated lino-print–and-collage illustrations in dominant, intensely bright blue and yellow are filled with delightful images. The black-and-white puffins, one with an orange beak and one with red, display slight changes in the ways they hold their heads and mouths that indicate their emotions and perfectly match the dialogue. There’s a gentle, subliminal message about friendship and acceptance.
Enormous fun. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6914-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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
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