An adventurous exploration into the deepest recesses of imagination.
Tiny visits to wonderful locations.
Avian weddings, Jurassic comparisons, and minuscule whispers populate this book as Austrian artist Puchner invites readers to embark on an imaginative adventure. Bizarrely peculiar and wonderful, the surrealist journey keeps them tethered to reality as it incorporates sly references to popular culture, such as Salvador Dalí and Star Trek. The narrator often directly addresses the audience, using the second person. Prompting philosophical thoughts about paradise or praising readers’ existence, the narrative invites constant thought and examination between reality and dreams. With active ambiguity, the narrator seems to morph through the different creatures portrayed as the perspective switches from a cat receiving presents to a rabbit perusing photographs, for instance. With no clear narrative or story progression, the book requires diligence to persevere in its reading. Offering a smorgasbord of creatures and locations, Puchner plunges readers into the depths of the ocean and elevates them to the highest reaches of the cosmos from one page to the next. It’s dizzying. However, the sequence of spreads invites patient reading as it displays a visually enticing set of illustrations and begs for the deciphering of meaning.
An adventurous exploration into the deepest recesses of imagination. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4383-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Lively fun with animal friends.
Has Plum’s pep deserted him?
Several animals from the Athensville Zoo are on their way to visit an elementary school. Overconfident Itch the ningbing (an Australian marsupial), unaware that zookeeper Lizzie will be doing all the talking, looks forward to “lecturing eager young minds.” Plum, the usually chipper peacock, on the other hand, is anxious—maybe the schoolchildren won’t like him or he’ll get lost. So when they arrive at the school to find the students have been sent home due to a blizzard, Plum is relieved. The animals are left in a school gym for the night until three self-important class mice free them. Itch heads for the library to meet the learned turtle, but Plum reluctantly explores with his friends. When his anxiety peaks, they reassure him, and when the mice reject Meg, another peacock, as “borrrring” and uncool, they buoy her as well before everyone comes together to save Itch, who finds himself outside and stranded in a snowdrift. Unlike Leave It to Plum (2022), this is not a mystery, and the relationship focus shifts from Lizzie to the rodents, but the pace is brisk, and sequel seekers will be pleased to revisit familiar characters (if dismayed that Itch’s longing for knowledge leads to his downfall). In Phelan’s engaging grayscale pen-and-wash illustrations, Lizzie has short curly hair; text and art cue her as Latine.
Lively fun with animal friends. (how to draw Plum) (Chapter book. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-307920-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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