by Jonathan Stutzman ; illustrated by Heather Fox ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 2020
Young readers will be happy to read and reread this dynamic data on their duffs.
An informational hymn to your handsome heinie.
Yes, butts are everywhere, and everyone has one: your fellow family members, your friends, even famous people. Butts have many names: “haunches,” “cheeks,” “keister,” “caboose,” “booty,” “patootie,” and many more, each one rendered in its own style on a double-page spread devoted to this particular set of synonyms. However, your “can” is more than just something to laugh at (or to not mention in polite society). “Your gluteus maximus will propel you into the air if you jump, and your buns will catch you if you fall.” Many animals have butts. Some that don’t include whales, worms, and jellyfish. And animals use their butts for varied activities: Dogs learn about other dogs with a sniff; turtles breathe with their rears, and manatees “toot” to swim faster. And speaking of the fantastic fart, everyone does it, from bees to elephants (humans are no exception!). Yes, there are billions of buttocks in the world, but everyone’s is unique and perfect as it is. Stutzman’s occasionally rhyming text gets the poots—er, points across handily. Little listeners may giggle (a lot), but, in the tradition of Taro Gomi’s venerable Everyone Poops (1993), this cleverly informs on a topic all and sundry may not be completely comfortable talking about and entertains in the process. Fox’s colorful cartoon illustrations of joyous butt-owners of many skin tones displaying their derrieres double the fun. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads at 61.4% of actual size.)
Young readers will be happy to read and reread this dynamic data on their duffs. (Picture book. 2-8)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-51451-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 2014
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2021
A hilarious autumnal comedy of errors.
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New York Times Bestseller
A confused squirrel overreacts to the falling autumn leaves.
Relaxing on a tree branch, Squirrel admires the red, gold, and orange leaves. Suddenly Squirrel screams, “One of my leaves is…MISSING!” Searching for the leaf, Squirrel tells Bird, “Someone stole my leaf!” Spying Mouse sailing in a leaf boat, Squirrel asks if Mouse stole the leaf. Mouse calmly replies in the negative. Bird reminds Squirrel it’s “perfectly normal to lose a leaf or two at this time of year.” Next morning Squirrel panics again, shrieking, “MORE LEAVES HAVE BEEN STOLEN!” Noticing Woodpecker arranging colorful leaves, Squirrel queries, “Are those my leaves?” Woodpecker tells Squirrel, “No.” Again, Bird assures Squirrel that no one’s taking the leaves and that the same thing happened last year, then encourages Squirrel to relax. Too wired to relax despite some yoga and a bath, the next day Squirrel cries “DISASTER” at the sight of bare branches. Frantic now, Squirrel becomes suspicious upon discovering Bird decorating with multicolored leaves. Is Bird the culprit? In response, Bird shows Squirrel the real Leaf Thief: the wind. Squirrel’s wildly dramatic, misguided, and hyperpossessive reaction to a routine seasonal event becomes a rib-tickling farce through clever use of varying type sizes and weights emphasizing his absurd verbal pronouncements as well as exaggerated, comic facial expressions and body language. Bold colors, arresting perspectives, and intense close-ups enhance Squirrel’s histrionics. Endnotes explain the science behind the phenomenon.
A hilarious autumnal comedy of errors. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-3520-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
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