A sweet animal tale with gorgeous images.
In this debut illustrated children’s book, a cat visits all of his canine friends, trying to trace the owner of a red balloon.
Finnigan, a ginger tabby, comes across a stray balloon while playing outside. Assuming that somebody has lost this prize and must be missing it, the feline searches for the owner. He tries his dog friends Bruce (a Weimardoodle), Willow (an Australian shepherd), Caper (an Irish setter), Simon (a Chesapeake Bay retriever), and finally Wesley (a wire fox terrier), whose balloon it turns out to be. VanCamp and illustrator Dwyer’s collaboration tells a simple tale, which, on the strength of its charming animal protagonists and upbeat ending, should appeal to children (“FINNIGAN was happy he had done a good deed. / He’d known he would eventually succeed”). Still, adults may wonder about Finnigan’s urgency (the errant balloon is afforded the importance of a lost child) and will likely struggle if they are reading the book aloud. The end-rhymes are of the unnatural type that demand a contorting of the narrative into unwieldy, unmetered sentences (for instance: “SIMON was busy packing his toys for the lake, / and he had just stopped to take a break. / Finnigan looks at Simon with his big blue eyes. / ‘I need your help,’ FINNIGAN cried”). Dwyer’s artwork, in contrast, is naturalistic and vibrant, featuring exquisite, digitally painted outdoor backdrops and endearing animal profiles (although these seem at times superimposed on the landscapes). A close-up of Wesley is a lovely example of a children’s book illustration done well while the use of distinctive, dark hues (especially purple) ensures that the pictures don’t end up overwhelmingly green.
A sweet animal tale with gorgeous images.Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2023
ISBN: 9781039178175
Page Count: 44
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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