The death of a boy’s beloved sheepdog is the topic of Burleigh’s latest. Sheepie is Owen’s best friend, but he is getting older and cannot run and play like he used to. Then one day Owen finds Sheepie under the oak tree. Owen’s dad tells him, “Poor Sheepie. He was hurting. We knew he couldn’t live forever.” The two tenderly bury Sheepie, Owen placing a toy truck next to his friend. Owen’s dad explains that even though Sheepie can never come back, he will always be part of their happy memories. Catalanotto’s watercolor-and-gouache artwork sweetly portrays both the special relationship between the boy and his dog and the care that Owen and his dad take in burying Sheepie. While moving, however, this title lacks the depth of similar efforts. The relationship between Owen and Sheepie is given only two pages to develop—on the third, Sheepie dies. With its focus on the day of the dog’s death, this fails to explore the stages of grief or the subject of what happens after death. Touching but ultimately lacking. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5598-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2010
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
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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