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BENNY'S TRUE COLORS

Choose stories about real trans children over this clumsy attempt.

A winged friend experiences cross-species transition.

Benny, a pug-nosed, ruffed, flying creature, “looks like all the other little brown bats in the park—he has a brown, furry body, webbed wings, and pointed ears.” But “Benny isn’t a bat”: he’s diurnal, hates eating bugs, and “dreams about a silky, soft body; fluttering, patterned, colorful wings; and long, curling antennae.” You see, Benny is “really…a BUTTERFLY.” His butterfly friends are all extremely supportive of his identity, and his mother’s only lines are variations on “I love you.” Even though the butterflies don’t think Benny needs to change his body, some caterpillars wrap him in a cocoon (instead of extruding a chrysalis for him) and he emerges more typically butterfly-assigned. While it’s nice that this story, dedicated by Passchier to “all the trans and gender-nonconforming kids out there,” departs from the traditional bullying narrative, it’s still an uncomfortable stand-in for transgender identities, implying that gender differences are akin to those between insects and mammals rather than fluid social constructions. Even without the strained metaphor the story is positively treacly; in penning a supportive tale, the author deprives the plot of conflict to fuel it. The bright, chipper art, matching the tone, is unsubtle but appealing. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 18.1% of actual size.)

Choose stories about real trans children over this clumsy attempt. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-250-20771-5

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Imprint

Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020

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THE WONKY DONKEY

Hee haw.

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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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DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE SLEIGH!

A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.

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Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.

This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”

A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023

ISBN: 9781454952770

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Union Square Kids

Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023

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