Hank is sure his imaginary dog Fergus is the only friend he needs. When new-boy-next-door Cooper tries to strike up a friendship, Hank accuses him of stepping on Fergus’s tail. All Cooper can see is the ratty old shoestring Hank uses for a leash. Bad feelings grow until the leash is broken during an argument. Both boys feel awful, but make up by exchanging gifts. Nielsen-Fernlund’s first picture book is a mixed bag; the rocky start to Cooper and Hank’s friendship is laid out well, and it’s nice that Hank gets to keep his imaginary friend. However, this simple story is muddled by the addition of a focus, near the end, on Hank’s raspberry birthmark. The birthmark is not mentioned in the beginning, and young readers will be confused when Cooper asks, “What’s that thing on your face?” Hank does explain the birthmark in the end, but his explanation interrupts the flow of the real story. Despite the fun of Laliberté’s bright, full-bleed illustrations, in which Fergus changes his breed to suit Hank’s mood, this Canadian import is not a first purchase. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2003
ISBN: 1-55143-245-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2003
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
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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