A multilayered coming-of-age story filled with exquisitely executed art.
A little boy finds his inner tiger in this lyrical picture-book debut by Choi, an award-winning author for adults.
Narrated in a thoughtful, meandering voice that mimics a long scenic drive into the mountains, a boy, his older brother, and their parents travel to a camping site at Mountain Pond, which is “like a mirror in the trees.” Throughout the trip the boy vocalizes his apprehensions about growing up and becoming a first-grader, saying he “liked kindergarten” and misses “things my mom used to do for me.” Suddenly everyone is struck silent when a tiger approaches from the temperate forest, asking for an extra tent to sleep in. The boy and the tiger quickly connect. Soon the tiger becomes the personification of the growing inner courage of the boy, participating in all the activities. The boy accomplishes new milestones: catching his first fish, steering the canoe well, and striking out on his own. Rocco provides illustrations with a cool color scheme and dramatic details. Elongated sentences demand that readers linger on each page drinking in every detail of the tiger’s striking portraits. There is a slight disconnect in tone between the whimsy of the text and the realism of the illustrations, but it is a small price to pay. The boys appear Asian or biracial Asian/white.
A multilayered coming-of-age story filled with exquisitely executed art. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 21, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-399-17329-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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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