Delightful art can’t save this problematic exploration.
Two penguin siblings, Slipper and Flipper, have grown up idolizing their famous forebear, helmet-wearing Spanish explorer Don Pingüino, and want to emulate him.
They set off to follow in his footsteps by exploring the Western Hemisphere, from Antarctica to Mexico. Despite the fact that neither the tango nor modern soccer had been invented by the time of the Age of Exploration, the residents of Buenos Aires remember Don Pingüino giving them the “dance of love,” and the Brazilians remember him playing soccer. This Methuselah of an explorer seems to gallivant just ahead of his tuxedoed descendants throughout their journey north. When Papa finally catches up, they happily proceed to take a bus tour of the continental United States, the titular “Land of the Golden Sun” and evidently their new home. Reagan’s Photoshopped pen-and-ink line art collaged into scenic photos is eye-catching and colorful. The ice floes are particularly captivating. Readers will enjoy the many gatefolds while looking for poor frantic Papa. Unfortunately, the meandering story detracts from the truly wonderful illustrations. In fact, the storyline is so inconsequential that it could have been wholly carried by the conversation bubbles, and the premise is hugely flawed. The conquistadores and the native peoples of the Americas didn’t exactly hit it off, yet these “native” penguins don’t seem to have a problem with the fact that their “ancestor” pillaged and conquered.
Delightful art can’t save this problematic exploration. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4231-6387-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
