Another hilarious outing for the curious cockroach—and readers with strong stomachs.
Perspective determines perception in this comic clash of human and roach viewpoints.
Hutchings’ narrator, the confident cockroach introduced in Your Birthday Was the Best! (2022), enthusiastically celebrates a visit to “your” school (“you” being a light-skinned child with short blond hair). Self-assured but supremely un-self-aware, the roach is certain that you would be sad to realize you forgot to bring them along for show and tell, so the crawlie climbs aboard your backpack—with a crowd of family. After they covertly enjoy some fun classroom activities, your big presentation arrives, so the ebullient insect lets loose by dancing on your teacher’s head. The ensuing panic is cited as evidence of this performance’s success. During a lunchtime game of hide-and-seek, the vermin crawl into your teacher’s lunchbox, precipitating her “little rest” (i.e., dead faint). Later, the narrator wants to join you and draw a picture, but the crayons are too heavy to hold, so they eat several colors instead—and then excrete a pile of rainbow pellets. (Kids, don’t try this at home.) The bug’s final “triumph” is their portrait of you, rendered in the excreted “rainbow paint," which sends the kids screaming from the room but convinces the narrator that such art moves everyone to tears. Sala again provides perfect illustrations: a cheerful elementary classroom with diverse students, a perky individual little face for every roach, and realistic details to reward the inevitable rereading. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Another hilarious outing for the curious cockroach—and readers with strong stomachs. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 9, 2023
ISBN: 9780735271647
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
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
Totes adorbs.
A cuddly, squishy pug’s puggy-wuggy diary.
Equipped with both #pugunicorn and #pughotdog outfits, pug Baron von Bubbles (aka Bub) is the kind of dog that always dresses to impress. Bub also makes lots of memorable faces, such as the “Hey, you’re not the boss of me!” expression aimed at Duchess, the snooty pink house cat. Some of Bub’s favorite things include skateboarding, a favorite teddy, and eating peanut butter. Bub also loves Bella, who adopted Bub from a fair—it was “love at first sniff.” Together, Bub and Bella do a lot of arts and crafts. Their latest project: entering Bella’s school’s inventor challenge by making a super-duper awesome rocket. But, when the pesky neighborhood squirrel, Nutz, makes off with Bub’s bear, Bub accidentally ruins their project. How will they win the contest? More importantly, how will Bella ever forgive him? May’s cutesy, full-color cartoon art sets the tone for this pug-tastic romp for the new-to–chapter-books crowd. Emojilike faces accentuate Bub’s already expressive character design. Bub’s infectious first-person narration pushes the silly factor off the charts. In addition to creating the look and feel of a diary, the lined paper helps readers follow the eight-chapter story. Most pages have fewer than five sentences, often broken into smaller sections. Additional text appears in color-coded speech bubbles. Bella presents white.
Totes adorbs. (Fiction. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-53003-2
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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