A peppy tale sure to get kids psyched for the first day of school.
Siblings are ambivalent about the new school year.
Archie, a piglet, is starting kindergarten; big brother Pip, a platypus, is entering first grade. They’re excited but nervous, too: Archie doesn’t know if he can sit still all day and worries about what he’ll learn and how much he doesn’t know yet; Pip frets that Archie will make so many pals, he’ll forget about him. As the siblings play with their friends, Archie hears some silly, improbable stories about school (Pip smiles knowingly); then they shop for new supplies with their parents. At the store, they meet Mr. Hornsby, the kindergarten teacher, who allays Archie’s fears by patiently answering his many questions. After dinner, Pip further reassures his younger sib. Next day, the first school day, is successful: Archie learns a lot, has fun, makes new friends—and reassures Pip that he wouldn’t have been as brave without his older brother’s help. Archie acknowledges he needn’t have worried after all. This sprightly, encouraging story handles new students’ realistic concerns in an upbeat, though somewhat superficial manner; not all children will take to school quite as quickly as Archie does. Still, the illustrations are adorable, depicting an all-animal cast: Dad’s a lion, Mom’s a crocodilian, and Mr. Hornsby’s a ram. Backgrounds have a charming, childlike look.
A peppy tale sure to get kids psyched for the first day of school. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 18, 2024
ISBN: 9798890191007
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Cottage Door Press
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 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
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
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