A sensitive, atmospheric story depicting the fragility and rewards of friendship.
The protagonist mourns his friendless status in this tale by two longtime Swedish collaborators.
Originally published by R and S Books (1992), this version has a larger trim size and updated illustrations, although the diminutive man retains his tan coat, brown hat, and chubby cheeks. He is a lonely figure, sitting on his front steps, wishing for a companion. Dogs and old men are mean to him: “People thought he was too small and possibly a bit slow.” He creates a sign advertising for a friend and waits patiently outside. On the 10th night, he awakens to find a dog nuzzling his hand. Lindgren and Eriksson slowly build interactions of mutual delight: playful roughhousing, bedtime arrangements (dog in bed; man in dresser drawer), shared meals. The bare trees of winter silhouetted against a gray sky yield to dancing flowers surrounded by a warm, green landscape. The dog’s antics, e.g., peeing on the fence, will amuse young viewers, just as the sad moments will touch them. All is well (there is even payback to the bullies) until a little girl visits. Three is a perilous number in relationships, and the man flees to the forest, where “[h]is tears fell like pearls on the moss.” When the man returns home to investigate, a joyful reunion ensues, and the trio figures out how to abide together. The man and the girl are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sensitive, atmospheric story depicting the fragility and rewards of friendship. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-77657-409-4
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Gecko Press
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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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