Poor Dr. Dog, the hapless Gumboyle family pet and doctor who is pulled away from a conference in Brazil to tend to his sick and rather disgusting owners. They smoke, they catch colds, they get nits in their hair and worms in their stomachs. One of them, Grandpa Gumboyle, has such a bad gas problem that he farts explosively enough to blow the roof off of their house. Dr. Dog cures them all, but it's no wonder he needs to get away to a deserted island at the end of the book. The reader may wish for a similar escape before this story is over. There is interesting information here—why smoking makes us cough, why we shouldn't swap brushes and combs, why we should always wash our hands. And Cole, never one to shy away from bodily functions, is typically offbeat and funny both in her text and her illustrations. As she did in her last book (Mummy Laid an Egg, 1993), she uses children's-style drawings to help the bug-eyed Dr. Dog explain each case. Still, the material in this original and irreverent look at common illnesses and afflictions is gross: `` `Never scratch your bum and suck your thumb!' said Dr. Dog.'' Ugh, puke. (Fiction/Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-86720-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Little Caterpillar longs to fly away with friends Ladybird and Bee. Wingless and earthbound, she patiently awaits their eventual reappearance. However, when Ladybird and Bee return from an aerial jaunt one day they discover that their friend is missing. Snail informs them that she is slumbering within a cocoon. Soon, to her friends delight, Caterpillar emerges sporting a pair of glorious yellow wings and asks to be called by her new name, Butterfly. The three are next seen soaring over the garden together. Murphy (I Like It When . . ., 1997) puts the characters for this vivid picture book amid the bright foliage of a bountiful garden. In the full-page illustrations, awash with color and drawn from a bug’s perspective, boldly outlined flowers loom as tall as trees, while leaves provide a verdant canopy for the convivial insects. The oversized format and thick, durable paper allow toddlers the freedom to manipulate the pages on their own, which they will, and frequently. (Picture book. 1-4)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7894-2593-9
Page Count: 20
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This exploration of the fear of the new and different—the strange, as in “stranger”—is so heavily tilted to the gathering worries of the young protagonists that the ultimate meeting with the object of their concern is supremely anticlimactic. Two kittens, Cosy and Posy, are informed by their mother that Giraffe is coming to dinner. Having never met Giraffe, the kittens are at first curious and then increasingly alarmed as they hear from their friends about Giraffe’s oddness, from his long neck and spots to his height. When Giraffe appears, he offers the kittens his neck as a slide and instantly all is right with the world. There is relief, but no sense that the kittens know how baseless their fears were, nor that their trepidations were simply products of their imaginations. Readers may come away with the feeling that the kittens were soothed this time, but that the next time their fears will be just as out of control. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30059-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
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