In a secluded Buddhist monastery nestled in the Himalayas, monks of all ages share their lives with a special friend: a Bengal tiger named Dorje. Dorje is unique in that he has no stripes—just two dark patches above his eyes. One day the youngest monk, Cheekoo, notices that a stripe has appeared on Dorje's shoulders. This prompts Master Wu to recount the tale of Dorje's arrival at the monastery. He also tells the young monks that he has dream-walked into the sleeping mind of Dorje; there he learned that Dorje once had stripes but lost one for every tiger men killed from his clan. On a walk with Master Wu in the forest, Dorje finds a female tiger, and the stripe Cheekoo noticed suddenly appeared: There may be hope for his clan yet. Indian screenwriter Ruddra's completely muddled tale begins promisingly enough but loses a coherent narrative thread by the halfway mark. Master Wu's lengthy story leaches immediacy from the tale. The Parks' watercolor paintings are quite beautiful, very watery and brushy. However, their depictions of Cheekoo are inconsistent from image to image, and the number of stripes they give Dorje conflicts with Master Wu's tale and the timeline of the story. A worthy subject that is worthy of a far better treatment. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-935279-98-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
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
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BOOK REVIEW
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A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity.
Buzz and his buzzy buddy open a spinoff series of nonfiction early readers with an aquarium visit.
Buzz: “Like other fish, sharks breathe through gills.” Fly Guy: “GILLZZ.” Thus do the two pop-eyed cartoon tour guides squire readers past a plethora of cramped but carefully labeled color photos depicting dozens of kinds of sharks in watery settings, along with close-ups of skin, teeth and other anatomical features. In the bite-sized blocks of narrative text, challenging vocabulary words like “carnivores” and “luminescence” come with pronunciation guides and lucid in-context definitions. Despite all the flashes of dentifrice and references to prey and smelling blood in the water, there is no actual gore or chowing down on display. Sharks are “so cool!” proclaims Buzz at last, striding out of the gift shop. “I can’t wait for our next field trip!” (That will be Fly Guy Presents: Space, scheduled for September 2013.)
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity. (Informational easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-50771-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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