A bland episode, though likely to leave more-reflective readers wondering when the puppies will be coming along.
New neighbors Ruby and Billy make friends fairly easily, but their dogs suffer the pangs of love in this cozy import.
Ruby’s stated dislike of boys doesn’t keep her from meeting with Billy over the fence about the strange behavior of their respective dogs, Grub and Tilly. Droopy Grub whines and just stares at his food. “Grub’s in love,” says Ruby’s mom. “He’s pining.” Likewise Tilly, who will only touch “cheese and crusty bread” according to Billy (“I think Tilly might be French,” comments Ruby parochially). A picnic provides the perfect solution: the two dogs gleefully chase each other out of sight—their trail taking the shape of a heart over the park’s green expanse—and by the time they’re back in view “Grub’s tail was wagging the most I’ve ever seen.” Ahem. Next morning Grub eats his food, digs happily in the garden, and at Ruby’s offer of another picnic, jumps on her for “the BIGGEST, messiest hug ever!” A few instances of doggy gloom aside, both the human figures and the spaniel-eared canine ones bear wispy smiles in Warburton’s vivacious watercolor scenes.
A bland episode, though likely to leave more-reflective readers wondering when the puppies will be coming along. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0134-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
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
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity.
Buzz and his buzzy buddy open a spinoff series of nonfiction early readers with an aquarium visit.
Buzz: “Like other fish, sharks breathe through gills.” Fly Guy: “GILLZZ.” Thus do the two pop-eyed cartoon tour guides squire readers past a plethora of cramped but carefully labeled color photos depicting dozens of kinds of sharks in watery settings, along with close-ups of skin, teeth and other anatomical features. In the bite-sized blocks of narrative text, challenging vocabulary words like “carnivores” and “luminescence” come with pronunciation guides and lucid in-context definitions. Despite all the flashes of dentifrice and references to prey and smelling blood in the water, there is no actual gore or chowing down on display. Sharks are “so cool!” proclaims Buzz at last, striding out of the gift shop. “I can’t wait for our next field trip!” (That will be Fly Guy Presents: Space, scheduled for September 2013.)
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity. (Informational easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-50771-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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