Love conquers fear in a charming story about a boy and a fearsome dog. “I hate Mad Dog McGraw,” cries the little boy about his next-door neighbor’s pet. Mad Dog barks and chases our hero back home. To avoid going near the dog, the boy tries a number of strategies. He learns how to walk on stilts. That works until a stilt is caught in a crack and he falls right in the dog’s path. He decides to sail over him with an open umbrella. That works, too, until the wind stops and he falls into his yard. In desperation, he decides to get a cat to scare Mad Dog. Since he doesn’t have a cat, he tames Bait, a stray, by offering him milk. But instead of frightening the dog, Bait purrs and wins his love. The offer of a dog biscuit produces the same result with Mad Dog, and they all live happily ever after. Monks’s (The Cat Barked?,1999) paper montage illustrations with acrylic paint and colored crayons add to Uhlberg’s (Flying Over Brooklyn, not reviewed) humorous text. The bright cartoon-like figures with paperdoll-styled clothing are jaunty and fun. Mad Dog’s teeth all stick out of even his closed, smiling mouth. The boy’s five hairs stick straight up from his head. His wide O-shaped eyes with a little dot for pupils graphically display his fear. The cat’s long black-and-white striped tail curving high over her back is the picture of allure and sophistication. A delightful story, but children shouldn’t take its lesson too seriously when dealing with strange “mad dogs.” (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: July 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-399-23308-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
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
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
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