No, whining won’t shorten the journey…but it can make it more entertaining.
Slow and steady may win the race—but it’s not this butterfly’s style.
Having achieved metamorphosis despite many fits and starts in The VERY Impatient Caterpillar (2019), Burach’s popeyed, loudly colored flutterer faces a whole new challenge: tailing the rest of the migrating butterfly flock across a long stretch of ocean. “200 MILES? How am I supposed to travel that far?” Diving down the blowhole of a passing whale to hitch a ride in its stomach (anatomical detail is not a strong point here) turns out to be a nonstarter…but the whale does prove to be a supportive cheerleader. It horks the anguished insect up, admitting that even whales can be anxious sometimes and urging it to “KEEP TRYING” and “Believe you can.” Finally the insect boldly proclaims, “I got this!” And 200 miles of storms and predators later, it does indeed got this, landing amid bright flowers to a warm welcome from its fluttery compatriots. “You found your way!” Alas, the triumph quickly turns to fresh panic with the news that it’s almost time to go dormant for the winter. “Dorma-WHAT-now?” Stay still all winter? Uh-oh. Young members of the “Are we there yet?” chorus will wince in sympathy. The insect’s exaggerated expressions and frantic expostulations will elicit plenty of giggles, and sly pictorial details will keep a broad range of readers happy during rereads.
No, whining won’t shorten the journey…but it can make it more entertaining. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-61500-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A close encounter of the best kind.
Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.
While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.
A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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