Is Dustpan, Texas, big enough for both the sheriff and a rattlesnake? This small Western town is so sleepy, the sheriff does a lot of babysitting, “to pass the time.” When a rattlesnake slithers through town, the sheriff springs into action, warning the creature he’s not welcome. Not long after, the sheriff hears a commotion at Earl’s Saloon (“Dang!” he cries. “Something’s actually happening in Dustpan!”) and moseys over to find the rattler entertaining all the customers, much to the sheriff’s ire. The snake has similar success at the ladies’ quilting bee and with the children in the playground. Still, the tone-deaf sheriff holds a town meeting to announce his plan to run the rattler out of town. It takes an emergency, during which the snake becomes a hero, to convince the sheriff of the newcomer’s sincerity. Langdo’s watercolors have an appropriately dusty feel to them, and he outfits the rattler with fetching diamonds and two petite fangs that stick out from his upper lip to add to the amiable foolishness. A valuable message delivered in a droll package. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4027-5737-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2010
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
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
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