Eye-catching and intriguing.
“Clever, strange, and marvelous, / behold, the wondrous octopus!”
In this attractive title, rhyming couplets, set against vibrant illustrations and supplemented with additional information in a smaller font, introduce a fascinating, seemingly alien species. Acrobats indeed, these cephalopods perform remarkable twists and turns. Close-ups often extend fully across a double-page spread. Fliess’ narrative covers far more than astonishing acrobatics. She describes habitats, body shapes, sizes, and special features; nocturnal habits and defense mechanisms that both help them hunt and avoid becoming prey; and tool use, cognition, and reproduction. The couplets read awkwardly, at times straining to tell the story. Some readers may balk at the statement “octopuses have two rectangular eyes,” given that it’s the pupil, not the entire eye, that’s round (though an accompanying illustration depicts a rectangular pupil). Specific species, such as the giant Pacific octopus, are mentioned. Lucas’ digitally created artwork shows off the octopuses’ amazing agility. Simplified shapes, vivid colors, and subtle background patterning are used to wonderful effect to portray these creatures, both outside and in. This title is similar in form and content to Suzanne Slade’s Behold the Octopus! (2023), illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez, which reads more smoothly and would be the better choice if readers can buy only one.
Eye-catching and intriguing. (glossary, labeled drawing, author’s notes, further reading) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 7, 2024
ISBN: 9780807558188
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
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 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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