Rarely is a full-blown temper tantrum as much fun or as instructive to witness
A scrappy underdog has a meltdown over a short lifetime of slights but learns quickly that there are worse things than being small.
Little Shaggy is a tiny monster the size and shape of a furry car chamois. And he's got a large problem: he's had it up to here with the word "little" as it's delivered by his parents and grandparents. The word seems to define every experience of his life, from eating cereal to taking walks to reading bedtime stories. One day, Little Shaggy rages, declaring, "I am not a Little Buddy!" as he throws toys, pulls out his hair, and stomps around with his, yes, little feet. The joke turns out to be that for all his stress, Little Shaggy turns to crying mush when he's introduced to his new baby sister. "But I DON’T WANT TO BE BIG!" he wails. With skewed but lavishly detailed artwork that surrounds Shaggy's drama with cozy, domestic touchstones, the story is the perfect object lesson for any runt, pipsqueak, half-pint, or shrimp with a complex about the unfairness of life. Shaggy's expressions of annoyance, frustration, and ultimately, defiance, are expertly conveyed, and there's no skimping on the cleverness of how the L word is deployed throughout.
Rarely is a full-blown temper tantrum as much fun or as instructive to witness . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0377-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators.
Existing artwork from an artistic giant inspires a fairy-tale reimagination by a master of the horror genre.
In King’s interpretation of a classic Brothers Grimm story, which accompanies set and costume designs that the late Sendak created for a 1997 production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, siblings Hansel and Gretel survive abandonment in the woods and an evil witch’s plot to gobble them up before finding their “happily ever after” alongside their father. Prose with the reassuring cadence of an old-timey tale, paired with Sendak’s instantly recognizable artwork, will lull readers before capitalizing on these creators’ knack for injecting darkness into seemingly safe spaces. Gaping faces loom in crevices of rocks and trees, and a gloomy palette of muted greens and ocher amplify the story’s foreboding tone, while King never sugarcoats the peach-skinned children’s peril. Branches with “clutching fingers” hide “the awful enchanted house” of a “child-stealing witch,” all portrayed in an eclectic mix of spot and full-bleed images. Featuring insults that might strike some as harsh (“idiot,” “fool”), the lengthy, dense text may try young readers’ patience, and the often overwhelmingly ominous mood feels more pitched to adults—particularly those familiar with King and Sendak—but an introduction acknowledges grandparents as a likely audience, and nostalgia may prompt leniency over an occasional disconnect between words and art.
Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9780062644695
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
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
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