Good hairy fun.
It’s a whiskers-off in the animal kingdom.
The walruses are holding a mustache contest, and animals of many species sign up to show off their crumb-catchers. First come the judges (all walruses) and spectators, then the contestants, beginning with a rabbit with an impressive lip rug. A frog hops up to compare its pushbroom…followed by a mallard with a pencil-thin handlebar “duckstache.” When a penguin in a top hat shows off some pretty impressive lip luggage, the crowd—with fake mustaches on sticks and big foam mustaches—goes wild. Snake sports a “musssstache,” and the mice their “mousestaches.” There is a “moooostache” and a “meowstache” and a “moosestache.” Whales, skunks, a giraffe, a snail, and more show off their facial hair. Bear causes a stir with a “beard” that seems to be the front-runner if excitement in the crowd is any indication. But last to arrive is a sporty “goatee” for the win. The Youngs’ debut picture book is short on text (it is conveyed entirely in speech bubbles containing plays on the word mustache) but long on foolishness. The cartoon illustrations (a mix of spot and full bleed) will incite giggles as the animals compare their nose-bugs while trying to out-whisker one another. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.8-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 29.4% of actual size.)
Good hairy fun. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-20558-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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