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THE THREE BILLY GOATS’ STUFF

Name: THE THREE BILLY GOATS’ STUFF
Author: Bob Hartman
ISBN: 978-0-7459-6023-4

by Bob Hartman and illustrated by Jacqueline East ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2009

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Troll loves to hide under the playground equipment at The Traditional Academy for Small Furry Animals and the Odd Mythical Creature and jump out at his fellow students to shake them down: “[R]each in your pocket / And give me your stuff!” He thinks the skinny new kid is going to be an easy mark, but the little goat puts him off; his older brother has a bigger briefcase, of course. And so it goes, until the biggest brother gives Troll a delicious comeuppance. East’s watercolors depict a big green bully with tusky underbite against a generic schoolyard background. The fun’s in the text, which will make for a good fractured–fairy-tale read-aloud in many an elementary classroom. (Picture book. 6-10)

Pub Date: July 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-7459-6023-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Lion/Trafalgar

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2009

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
MR. AESOP'S STORY SHOP
by Aesop & adapted by Bob Hartman & illustrated by Jago

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOLF WHO CRIED BOY
by Bob Hartman & illustrated by Tim Raglin

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!

John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 21, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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BUTT OR FACE?

From the Butt or Face? series

by Kari Lavelle ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2023

A gleeful game for budding naturalists.

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Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.

In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)