A cleverly funny animal tale with giggleworthy illustrations.
A creature’s surprise birthday party goes awry when all of the guests get the flu in this rhyming picture book debut.
Lion is sad and lonely on his birthday. But then his friends arrive with flowers, presents, and balloons—and the revels begin. Unfortunately, Hippo starts sneezing. Soon, Hippo, Gorilla, Rhino, and Polar Bear have all come down with the flu, and poor Lion is left running to get them tea, tissues, soup, and “goo” for chests. All that work is too much: “ ‘I want my mommy!’ Lion roared. / They all whined, ‘We do too!’ ” But they start mending, and soon Lion’s friends are feeling great—and taking care of the big cat, who’s finally caught the flu. Michaels’ rhyme scheme flows beautifully throughout, with smart word choices like “askew” and “flared” that painlessly introduce vocabulary to newly independent readers. The cartoon images by debut illustrator Hernandez are a comical delight, with the huge (all male) animals snuggled up sick in the same large bed. Occasionally, the text and the accompanying picture aren’t quite in synch. A description of Hippo’s sneeze blowing everyone’s food everywhere is matched with a close-up of his face and the aftermath of the calamity, making it feel as though a transition is missing. But young readers will be able to piece together the clues.
A cleverly funny animal tale with giggleworthy illustrations.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73306-630-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Mulberry Street Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The greening of Dr. Seuss, in an ecology fable with an obvious message but a savingly silly style. In the desolate land of the Lifted Lorax, an aged creature called the Once-ler tells a young visitor how he arrived long ago in the then glorious country and began manufacturing anomalous objects called Thneeds from "the bright-colored tufts of the Truffula Trees." Despite protests from the Lorax, a native "who speaks for the trees," he continues to chop down Truffulas until he drives away the Brown Bar-ba-loots who had fed on the Tuffula fruit, the Swomee-Swans who can't sing a note for the smogulous smoke, and the Humming-Fish who had hummed in the pond now glumped up with Gluppity-Glupp. As for the Once-let, "1 went right on biggering, selling more Thneeds./ And I biggered my money, which everyone needs" — until the last Truffula falls. But one seed is left, and the Once-let hands it to his listener, with a message from the Lorax: "UNLESS someone like you/ cares a whole awful lot,/ nothing is going to get better./ It's not." The spontaneous madness of the old Dr. Seuss is absent here, but so is the boredom he often induced (in parents, anyway) with one ridiculous invention after another. And if the Once-let doesn't match the Grinch for sheer irresistible cussedness, he is stealing a lot more than Christmas and his story just might induce a generation of six-year-olds to care a whole lot.
Pub Date: Aug. 12, 1971
ISBN: 0394823370
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1971
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BOOK REVIEW
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