A gardening hullaballoo that uses its cacophony of chaos to an infinitely amusing end.
It’s man (and cat!) vs. nature, with a distinct Swedish twist.
On a lovely spring morning old Pettson proposes a garden to his cat, Findus, who wears a beanie and overalls. They proceed to plant it that very day, and at first all is well. Then come Pettson’s chickens, ravenous for the worms that might be lurking beneath the soil. Once they have been contained, Pettson and Findus try planting a potato patch. That’s dug up by a neighbor’s escaped pig. A third planting is trampled most effectively by a neighbor’s cows. It finally takes the quick mind of Pettson and a paper bag to put things right. First published in Sweden in 1990, this text-heavy tale comforts readers even as Pettson’s frustration reaches a fever pitch. The charm of the writing has much to recommend it, but it’s the art that is the true star of the show. No matter how raucous or riotous Nordqvist’s illustrations become, there’s still room to include little Zen details, such as the chicken with its comb in a single hair roller or a pair of pups in a tree staring lovingly at the moon. Pettson and other humans appear to be white.
A gardening hullaballoo that uses its cacophony of chaos to an infinitely amusing end. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4311-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
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
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
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