The Doctor Dolittle premise and kid-friendly setting don’t make up for pacing, plot, and writing weaknesses.
A girl who can talk to animals helps a lonely new arrival at the zoo.
Zoe Parker lives at her great-uncle’s Rescue Zoo, where her veterinarian mother doctors the animals that Great-Uncle Horace saves from bad situations the world over. But Zoe has a secret—ever since her sixth birthday, she’s been able to communicate with animals. The zoo’s run by Mr. Pinch (“If you ask me, this zoo needs more rules and less fun”). One third of the way in, the main plot finally starts with a rescued lion cub’s arrival. But the starving lion cub refuses to eat; Rory, as the Kenyan lion calls himself, is too sad and lonely from missing his family. Zoe chats with the zoo’s other lion—grumpy, anti-social Leonard—and learns that he’s pretty lonely too. Guessing that the two of them can solve each other’s loneliness, she persuades her mother to put them in adjacent enclosures. When controlling Mr. Pinch learns of this, he interferes to spite Zoe—an unlikely move. Zoe’s talent is never explained, and Cobb is overreliant on exclamation points to engage her readers. Williams depicts the human characters as white in her grayscale vignettes, often poorly reproduced. Kids wanting more Rescue Zoo stories need not wait: The Puzzled Penguin will be simultaneously released.
The Doctor Dolittle premise and kid-friendly setting don’t make up for pacing, plot, and writing weaknesses. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: May 31, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-84220-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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