Chili-Chili-Chin-Chin is a donkey that knows what it likes and what it dislikes. Complementing Yang’s color-saturated artwork is a simple text that makes clear Chili-Chili-Chin-Chin’s purpose and declaration: “Some people say, ‘Chili-Chili-Chin-Chin, you sweet donkey, I want to ride you, I want to own you.’ ‘Oh, no, never! Impossible!’ I tell them, and send them on their way,” with a hoof to the hindquarters. There is one person Chili-Chili-Chin-Chin enjoys spending time with: the little boy who named him, after the sounds of the bells around the donkey’s neck. They travel around the countryside, season to season, in pursuit of blossoms in spring and turtles in summer, persimmons in the fall, and laying down a fresh set of tracks in the snow. They are pals who appreciate the subtlety of friendship, as when “he gives me room to be alone with my thoughts.” Whether giving room or sharing good times, Chili-Chili-Chin-Chin and the boy’s approach gives friendship an enviable suppleness. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-202006-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1999
In a book that shows one kind of conflict resolution, Hugo, a shy frog with a small croak, learns to be more assertive with the help of a duck. Hugo lives in terror of the big frogs, especially Pop Eyes, a bully who dumps Hugo into the pond upside down, snatches his stick, and splashes him. Duck teaches Hugo to quack loudly when threatened, and the next time the bully frogs come around, Hugo opens his mouth and bellows “QUACK!” The result of this surprising emission is that birds scatter, butterflies flutter, fish flap, and the bully frogs fall into the pond. Church’s art gives the frogs, fish, snails, and worms of this story bright colors and ping-pong-ball eyes, plus the requisite goofy expressions. A funny story, with surprises that will have toddlers giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-86233-093-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
Seibold and Walsh (Olive, the Other Reindeer, 1997, etc.) don’t provide much for readers to hold on to in the thick glossy pages of this oddly imagined, computer-generated tale of few words. Chongo Chingi the penguin is sleeping and dreaming. He dreams he flies with geese, and glides by an airplane, meets a metamorphosing bat, goes off into an outer space filled with sea creatures, and wakes up to his own alarm clock. The loosely rhymed text has the random sense of dreams, or of children’s own stories. The amusing images are the rounded, metallic-looking forms that characterize these collaborators’ previous books. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8118-2558-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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