by Ann Bonwill & illustrated by Simon Rickerty ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 13, 2011
A satisfying story of hippo-bird, bird-hippo friendship.
In this sweet-but-sassy British import, Hugo the hippo and Bella the bird announce their intentions to attend the Hippo-Bird (or Bird-Hippo) Fairy-Tale Fancy Dress Party disguised as the Princess and the Pea.
Bella doesn’t want to be the pea to Hugo’s princess, of course (“too green and small”), so she decides she’ll be a mermaid and Hugo will be her rock. Hugo protests that rocks are “too gray and blobby”—despite obvious similarities between him and rocks that Bella isn’t shy to point out. Not long after their bickering ends in a snippy standoff, both separately reconsider…and both end up dressing as peas for the ball. This charming story of compromise is mostly a dialogue rendered in two typefaces, a rounder, more hippo-ish style for Hugo’s voice and a scrappier one for Bella’s. The spare design, a fetching combination of inky black lines and blankets of saturated color, perfectly reflects the comical nature of the friends’ opposing perspectives. Rickerty has fun with color—at one point Bella paints Hugo orange (to be Cinderella’s pumpkin), and the next spread is a cheerful mess of orange hippo tracks and white Bella tracks. The copyright page shows a photograph of a bird and hippo together, a natural phenomenon no doubt inspiring Hugo’s opening line “All hippos have birds, and Bella is mine.”
A satisfying story of hippo-bird, bird-hippo friendship. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4424-3614-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
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by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 22, 2019
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends.
Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both!
Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. “Duck said, loud as he could quack it, / ‘THUNDER’S JUST A NOISY RACKET!’ ” In the quiet after the storm, the barnyard friends are sleepy, but the garage is not their home. “ ‘Beep!’ said Blue. ‘Just hop inside. / All aboard for the bedtime ride!’ ” Young readers will settle down for their own bedtimes as Blue and Toad drop each friend at home and bid them a good night before returning to the garage and their own beds. “Blue gave one small sleepy ‘Beep.’ / Then Little Blue Truck fell fast asleep.” Joseph’s rich nighttime-blue illustrations (done “in the style of [series co-creator] Jill McElmurry”) highlight the power of the storm and capture the still serenity that follows. Little Blue Truck has been chugging along since 2008, but there seems to be plenty of gas left in the tank.
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-85213-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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by Carin Bramsen & illustrated by Carin Bramsen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 22, 2013
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
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