This introduction to backyard chicken keeping couldn’t be sweeter.
Julie and younger brother Bob visit Grandpa’s backyard chicken flock.
This is evidently Bob’s first visit with Grandpa’s chickens, and Julie assumes the role of guide, informing Bob about chicken-coop construction, how roosters relate to the flock, and that there are “hundreds of different kinds of chickens.” Grandpa gently narrates the on-and-off excitement of a chick’s hatching. The ever-so-slight plot eases young readers into the book’s informational content. In addition to the facts conveyed by Grandpa and Julie, most pages feature supplemental tidbits presented in a faux hand-lettered type: “The mother doesn’t start sitting on the eggs until she’s laid the last one. Otherwise, they’d all hatch at different times.” The book’s fundamental nonfiction mission is cemented by an index that comes with a thoughtful note as to its use and a reminder to look at both the primary text and accompanying facts. The backmatter also includes an author’s note and a pointer to Barbara Sandri and Francesco Giubbilini’s Chickenology (2021). Regan’s watercolorlike mixed-media illustrations are characterized by quick lines and a bright, gentle palette. Both children have straight, dark hair (Julie’s in pigtails) and brown skin, as does their mother; Grandpa’s thatch of hair and bushy eyebrows are white, and his skin is beige. All are attired in comfy, slouchy clothes that befit the cozy episode.
This introduction to backyard chicken keeping couldn’t be sweeter. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781536239058
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
