Conflict resolution in the farmyard, with musical notes and a few sly yolks.
Chirpy the chick comes up with a peaceable response when the raucous rehearsals of an avian rock band perched in the trees cause sleepless nights in the chicken coop below.
The jays, crows, and other corvid members of the Crow Family Band caw all the louder after boorish poultry bully Clucky sourly complains about their “noise.” In a demonstration of gravity, they also hurl acorns at the chickens. But Chirpy finds a harmonic solution to the problem when she takes a trip to the local public school, where she often secretly listens in on lessons, and learns about rhythm and pitch…and makes the “eggs”-citing discovery that musical notes are fractions. Back at the coop, she composes a lullaby (“Sing the quarter notes fast / Cheep cheep cheep cheep / Sing the whole notes slooooow / Cheeeeeeeep / You’re getting sleepy at last / Off to dreamland you go”), forms a band (Cheep Trick), and soon has both feathered flocks singing themselves to sleep in sweet “caw-ncert.” Sporting a bow decorated with musical notes, Chirpy is easy to spot among the avians in Alder’s grayscale and yellow illustrations, and the human children in school are depicted with a range of skin tones. Clever puns and endearing characters help Chirpy’s “There’s math in music” message shine.
Conflict resolution in the farmyard, with musical notes and a few sly yolks. (instructions for making a paper plate tambourine) (Animal fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781645952022
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Pixel+Ink
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
