An entirely nonserious, delightfully welcome look at the world of work.
Count on crocodiles to put distinctive spins on a range of occupations.
Cast into sturdy verse with each snappy punch line revealed by a page turn, this reptilian roster is tailor-made for reading aloud. Whether doctors or teachers, house painters or gourmet cooks, Heidbreder’s crocodiles consistently turn work into wild rumpuses: “House-painting Crocs are in demand / for tasteful eye and skillful hand. / They feel each house should stand apart— / a chic, unique Croc work of art— / subtle, tranquil, calm and quaint…” (wait for it) “So every house they splatter-paint!” Dressed as humans, the long-nosed, variously colored, and not particularly toothy figures in Maté’s sunny cartoon illustrations sport engaging grins as they chow down themselves on the fruits of their labors, throw paint with abandon, exuberantly cover the “owies” of young patients with Band-Aids galore, and deposit mail anywhere except into mailboxes.
An entirely nonserious, delightfully welcome look at the world of work. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-926890-04-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tradewind Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
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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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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