Wonderfully wacky.
Cockatoos and their toucan buddies (Cockatoo, Too, 2015) are once again the stars of a wacky adventure.
This time the silliness involves two toucans’ misinterpretation of the cockatoos’ intentions regarding two cans. Each of two cockatoos brings a can of food and a large cooking utensil to a wooden bowl sitting on the jungle floor. As they pour the food into the bowl, they spot the toucans, who hear them say “Toucans, too,” but think they said “Toucan stew.” Naturally the toucans run for their lives as the cockatoos give chase, trying desperately to clear up the misconception. Reassured, the toucans come back in a canoe with two cans of their own. Readers will need to watch out for the gnus as they start out across the water and come closer and closer with each development so they might share in the stew too. A very few words in various combinations are arranged, in large, widely spaced type, across double-page spreads on white backgrounds. The setting is filled with many shades of green, inviting blue water, and a softly clouded sky. The creatures express their emotions with changes in their eyes and beaks. The toucans appear especially demented as they put on the brakes when they visualize toucan stew. And then there are the cuckoos. The words twist, and the fun escalates.
Wonderfully wacky. (Picture book. 2-7)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0421-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
A cozy, Rosie read. (Picture book. 2-6)
Two black children, who could be seen as fraternal twins, lavish love on their dachshund, Rosie.
Rylant’s text is written in the first person plural and uses an episodic structure that also highlights opposites. Sister and brother (unnamed in the text) affirm their love for Rosie whatever the circumstance, in brief episodes: “Day and Night…Good and Bad…In and Out…Lost and Found…Up and Down…Here and There.” The playfully repetitive phrasing reads rather like the controlled text of an early reader, and clear, bold type could support new readers attempting to decode it independently. Davick’s accompanying digital illustrations feature brightly colored, flat, graphically simple forms set against the clean whiteness of the pages. No other characters are present, which provides a pleasing focus on the loving dynamic between the children and their dog, as they read, play, and snuggle the days away.
A cozy, Rosie read. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-6511-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
A handsome edition of an old favorite.
The familiar cumulative game is played by four children, along with their father and their dog, at the typically British beach pictured on the lovely, expansive first endpaper.
The children's real activities are shown in b&w drawings; the imaginative doings appear in full color. Although some of the color pages show perfectly possible events, most are clearly fantasy, suggesting just how close the two may be in children's minds. The family ends up in safe retreat in one big cozy bed; the bear is seen--on the second essential, beautiful endpaper--headed into a gloomy sea. Oxenbury's splendid watercolors and drawings perfectly evoke both landscape and the members of the questing family.
A handsome edition of an old favorite. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 1989
ISBN: 978-0-689-50476-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1989
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