Children and caregivers alike will enjoy this charming tale about a dog who must find out if he’s a baked potato, a...
A cozy story about a curious pup with a slight identity crisis who runs into a host of characters on his way to reunion with his owner.
A stylish, mature lady has few loves: potatoes, dogs, and walks in the rain. When the lady adopts an adorable little brown dog, she notices that he is “smooth” and “warm” and that she could just “[eat] him right up,” so she combines two of her loves and starts calling him Baked Potato. The pair eat dinner by the fireplace and cuddle up next to each other in bed—they seem to have the perfect arrangement. But one eventful day, the lady steps out, and the dog’s adventure begins. Venturing out in search of the lady, he meets a big, rude dog, a fox, and an owl, all of which assure him he is not a baked potato (though the fox does think he’d be “good with carrots and onions”) and suggest alternatives. The digital illustrations bring a sense of vitality while maintaining adorableness, creating the scenes with firm lines and bright colors. The use of vibrant reds, greens, and blues is striking against the white page and helps amp both excitement and coziness. The lady has brown skin and puffy, dark brown curls.
Children and caregivers alike will enjoy this charming tale about a dog who must find out if he’s a baked potato, a groundhog, or a bunny. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5592-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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
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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
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BOOK REVIEW
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