Don’t bring up the rear! Be the first in line to read this laugh-out-loud story.
A class of anthropomorphic animals is thrown into disarray.
As this snazzily clad classroom menagerie is lining up, the book’s narrator—an energetic hippo—is at the front, leading the way as always. The other students become irritated at the hippo’s over-the-top hijinks (“I can make everyone go fast. I can make everyone go slow. I can suddenly stop and make everyone crash”), amusingly showcased across various double-page spreads, as well as at our hero’s smug sense of power. When the hippo’s attempts to get to the front go too far one day, the teacher banishes the protagonist to the titular back of the line. The hippo takes to the new place in line very quickly. While “caboosin’ it up,” the protagonist barely avoids a serious accident and is relegated to the middle of the line. Now a part of the group, the hippo eventually acclimates to the new spot and connects with the others, while still embracing a sense of mischief and whimsy. Jonker and Chan have created a chaotic yet hilarious story grounded in real childhood emotions. Jonker’s first-person text is full of repetition and short sentences, making this an ideal choice for a read-aloud. Chan’s action-filled signature ink and digital color illustrations further ramp up the zaniness. Many young readers (and their exasperated parents and teachers) will recognize the protagonist and relate to the emotional journey outlined here.
Don’t bring up the rear! Be the first in line to read this laugh-out-loud story. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781419765032
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
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
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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