A gentle story that children will return to time and time again
A boy’s generosity toward animals in need reaps great rewards.
In this beautiful book by German author/illustrator Danowski, a little white boy named Tony wakes up surrounded by his stuffed animals, eagerly anticipating a party to benefit the local animal shelter. He makes the bold decision to donate his beloved stuffed animals for the raffle. At the shelter, he meets a special cat named Valentine and hums a tune to him called “Little Night Cat” (music for the sweet, melancholy song composed by the author is included at the end of the book). A wallpaperlike design in reds and blues ushers readers from the endpapers into the cozy corners of Tony’s home, drawing them into the detailed setting. The illustrations, rendered in pen and ink, watercolor, and gouache, have soft, fuzzy edges and rounded corners that amplify the fuzziness of the real and stuffed animals. Occasional wordless double-page spreads invite readers to linger on the pages to examine the details of Tony’s home: framed pictures of animals on the walls, his mother’s cello in an open case, cat-patterned fabric hanging as his curtains. Children will empathize with Tony’s anxieties, disappointments, and ultimate happiness as he lives with the consequences of his decision, with the guidance of understanding, caring adults.
A gentle story that children will return to time and time again . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4266-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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