An entertaining story with whimsical illustrations and lots of heart.
Bogo fails in his attempts at zany self-improvement inventions but eventually realizes the power of his innate gifts.
Outlandish, colorful art that begins on the book’s cover will lure children to this clever, unusual tale. The first pages use a warm palette of hot pinks and oranges and a dizzying perspective to show a view from below of the fox’s treehouse. The text notes that this is an unusual home for a fox, but “he was a very curious fox and from up there he could see everything much better.” Clear lettering and frequent but appropriate use of bold print encourages reading aloud. Bogo’s inventions stem from his feeling of inferiority because so many other animals “were so incredible.” As he tries to invent ways to do everything from fly like a bird to swim like a fish, hilarious artwork (check out his armored-tank turtle shell) accompanies a refrain that works well for young readers: “Oh Bogo! You can’t have everything! Who ever heard of a fox that can fly!” (or wear glasses, etc.). After he retreats into isolation, Bogo’s intrinsic fox qualities serendipitously allow him to save the day for several other animals. New insights ensue. Although his epiphany is one many picture-book characters have had before, an applauseworthy difference is the supportiveness of his fellow creatures throughout.
An entertaining story with whimsical illustrations and lots of heart. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-84-944446-6-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NubeOcho
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
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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
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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