A must for any child with a cat in the family.
When it comes to mischief, no pet can top a pampered cat.
Suzy has long white fur and impossibly large blue eyes. Her full name is Suzy Cat Baggot. She is mostly well-behaved, but “when she felt like it, she could be really naughty.” She loves to hop up onto Granddad’s lap and get his trousers all hairy. Once, Suzy “did a piddle” on Dad’s golf bag, and the smell won’t go away. Suzy also thinks the new sofa will be perfect for sharpening her claws. Whenever anything bad happens, Suzy gets the blame—“usually because she had done it.” Drat that cat! One day, Suzy stops eating; the children try everything, but she just lies listlessly on the bed. Dad takes her to the vet, who advises that she stay overnight. The house seems very empty without her. The children cry and even look in the garden for a place to bury Suzy. Two days later, Suzy has recovered and can come home. Everybody celebrates, treating Suzy like a queen. Late that night, Suzy visits Charlie, the dog next door, and explains that she was just pretending. She wanted the family “to know JUST how much they love [her].” Ross smartly keeps the text simple, letting his hilarious illustrations and keen understanding of feline psychology shine.
A must for any child with a cat in the family. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4677-2030-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
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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
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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