This chimp is a worthwhile companion; young readers will no doubt answer his call.
Ten classic tales serve as backdrops for one primate’s book-hopping adventures at a local library.
Every time Willy walks through a pair of nondescript black doors, he knows to expect “something incredible” to happen on the other side. Aboard a ship he hides inside an apple barrel and overhears a sailor named Long John Silver plot for treasure and murder. In a forest, he encounters an old woman who asks him to plunge into a “very deep and very dark” hollow tree trunk to retrieve a tinderbox. Browne applies subtle stylistic differences to each world he re-creates, reimagining well-known stories for adult and child readers alike. Half the thrill arises from wondering what will come next for Willy. The subsequent momentum steadily encourages curiosity, an effect heightened when the chimp directly poses questions to readers (“Can you guess what happened next?”). Whether in Wonderland or the Wild Wood, actual books appear as trees, houses, and even the teeth of a monstrous sea creature, hinting at the underlying role of books in shaping imagination. Details specific to each story vary in degree from spread to spread, but Willy remains a constant source of amusement during every excursion. His good-humored facial expressions say more about each tale than words do.
This chimp is a worthwhile companion; young readers will no doubt answer his call. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7761-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
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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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
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