THIS LITTLE PIGGY

Name: THIS LITTLE PIGGY
Author: Tim Harrington
ISBN: 978-0-06-221808-7

by Tim Harrington ; illustrated by Tim Harrington ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013

The shoe is on the other foot when these talented piggies get their due, so consider this for storytimes or households that...

bookshelf

The lead singer of the indie rock band Les Savy Fav takes some time to consider the secret lives of toes.

Everyone knows the standard “This Little Piggy” rhyme. What we might not have realized is that long after the final “Wee! Wee! Wee!” the toes on the second foot want to have a little fun of their own. Not content to merely dine and take trips to the market, however, these piggies go in for disco dancing, painting and even selling hot dogs. Not to be outdone, the toes on the first foot attempt even wilder antics, like go-kart racing and a secret superhero career. Finally, at the end of the day, all the toes are exhausted, so they all get ready for bed. The sheer exuberance of these digits buoys much of the read. Harrington’s simple, colorful digital artwork complements the action remarkably well. Many of the rhymes in the book are near misses, but that’s true for the original nursery rhyme, too. Once the text gets to the little toes, an amusing overabundance of page-dominating text comes off as funny (though it is inexplicably split into multiple sentences, where a single run-on text may have been a more effective choice).

The shoe is on the other foot when these talented piggies get their due, so consider this for storytimes or households that need an extra kick. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: May 14, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-06-221808-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
NOSE TO TOES, YOU ARE YUMMY!
by Tim Harrington ; illustrated by Tim Harrington

bookshelf

ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

bookshelf

Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

bookshelf

A BIKE LIKE SERGIO'S

by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2016

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...

bookshelf

Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.

This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)