Young readers would do well to follow the worthy example of this perceptive protagonist.
The protagonist of Misty Mole Gets New Glasses (2024) learns about the perils of screen time.
Misty Mole’s in the forest, painting a scene that features her friends. But where are they? They’re too busy texting or gaming to make time for her. Misty imagines that she’s Super Mole, playing with her pals, and realizes that to fit in, she’ll need her own phone. Her parents agree to get her one—if she promises not to “get carried away.” Unfortunately, Misty gets more than carried away: She games under the covers at night, loses sleep, is inattentive in class, and ignores her younger brother. Soon, Misty can’t see well, even with her glasses. Visiting the eye doctor, she notices that all her friends are there, too, with various complaints—headaches, red eyes, trouble sleeping, and more. Dr. Eagle warns the children that screens can cause vision and other health problems and advises them to limit screen time and to play outdoors more. At this, Misty adopts her Super Mole persona and encourages her friends to find healthy alternatives. Written by an optometrist, this somewhat didactic U.K. import conveys important messages to children and adults. Energetic, colorful illustrations depict an adorable, all-animal cast; it’s no coincidence the “tuned-out” activities that endearing Misty and her pals engage in seem more fun than the sedentary, screen-dependent ones.
Young readers would do well to follow the worthy example of this perceptive protagonist. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781911107651
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neem Tree Press
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
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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