Not the most original tale but sweet and engaging nonetheless.
“It was a Tuesday like any other in Turtletown”—until it wasn’t.
Tootie wants nothing more than someone to play with, but none of the other turtles are interested in tag! Tootie has never gotten to play her favorite game with anyone. When a strange little creature falls from the sky, Tootie’s day takes a sudden turn for the weird—and wonderful. Tootie and the newly named Teeny have a lot in common and quickly become best friends. But Teeny is different. So different, in fact, she might not be a turtle at all. Will Tootie be able to convince her that different can be good? The central message about accepting difference feels a bit contrived, but it’s admittedly very funny (and occasionally heart-rending) to watch what’s definitely a bird navigate trying to be a turtle. In one scene, Tootie takes Teeny to the shell store, where Teeny tries on fancy shells, mossy shells, spiky shells, and more; later, Teeny grows even more feathers, and the pair try to cover them up. A limited palette and minimal detail allow the expressions and individuality of the characters to shine. These dynamic illustrations carry the story, whereas the occasionally stilted dialogue and bubbly interjections serve it less well.
Not the most original tale but sweet and engaging nonetheless. (Graphic fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781524880668
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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
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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