A warm, sweetly rendered, but potentially anxiety-inducing tale.
A dog loses his family—but finds a little one to care for—in Sanchez’s charming picture-book debut that tackles the difficult issue of poverty.
The book begins with Fluffy Dog, who is well-loved and cared for by his family. But when the family loses their home to foreclosure and must move away, they regretfully leave their dog behind. He waits for them to return, but the realtors chase him off. As he journeys to find his family, he becomes Scruffy instead of Fluffy; he moves from neighborhood to city to desert until one day, a bald eagle egg falls on him. After an unsuccessful attempt to return the egg to its nest, he can’t abandon it, so he takes it with him, rolling it with his nose into another city. Eventually, the egg begins to hatch, just enough so that its beak and feet stick out of the shell. But Scruffy doesn’t mind. He realizes he’s found a new family. The relationship between the expressively drawn and lovable Scruffy, whose sharp outline contrasts the textured color in his fur, and the faceless egg is impressively conveyed and will be adored by lap readers and independent readers alike. But the unresolved issues of Scruffy’s missing family, the egg’s eagle parents, and the homelessness both Scruffy and the egg share will leave sensitive readers concerned about their fates. Readers and parents will hope for further Scruffy adventures that may lead to a truly happy ending.
A warm, sweetly rendered, but potentially anxiety-inducing tale.Pub Date: June 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9979968-0-7
Page Count: 27
Publisher: Puppy & Sparrow Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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