Yea, Bridget.
The author of Boodil, My Dog (1992) offers another of her offbeat stories.
This one, a shaggy-wolf tale about a milquetoast turned commander-in-chief of a pack of wild carnivores, has just the right measure of topsy-turvy, oddball humor. Bridget is a little fraidy cat: she doesn’t like to pet dogs or jump over mud puddles or muck around with worms. She toes the straight-and-narrow when it comes to the daycare teachers’ directives. Then she goes and gets lost on a field trip into the forest, even though she was doing just what she was told. Next thing you know, she’s deep in the purpling woods of dusk, and sets of yellow eyes are peering at her from behind trees. They turn out to belong to a pack of wolves, but wolves of a different stripe. They truck to Bridget’s every order—don’t ask why, just enjoy watching as she puts them through a series of drills disguised as games, playing catch-the-pine cone (until one of them chokes), climb-the-trees (they’re not too good at getting down), and hospital (they like being scratched behind the ears). They even like her mud-and-blueberry pie, which is just what they need before hitting the hay (after a visit to the “pee trees,” that is). Next morning, they direct her out of the woods and back to her daycare center. Who’d have thought it: wolves, a girl’s best friends. Lindenbaum’s comical, off-center art offers a sight never before seen in American picture books: wolves peeing on trees. And the text offers another rarity: droll and ironic humor for children.
Yea, Bridget. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2001
ISBN: 91-29-65395-9
Page Count: 24
Publisher: R&S/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers.
Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
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