Ryan’s story features the disarming characters Frog and Bunny, two close friends. They go swimming and fight monsters together. “They even eat peanut-butter sandwiches together. / Ribbit rabbit. Wibbit wabbit.” But such close proximity can breed a case of the grumps. They squabble over a toy robot, which goes “beep boop, boop beep.” They stop talking to one another, but “they know what they have to do.” Make up, that’s what. These two are self-starters who can figure out their acrimony for themselves, which is a relief from being told what to do or stumbling upon the right thing by accident. The rhythmic, onomatopoeic text is a pretty music, the kind of song you’d sing in the dark to lift your spirits. Equally joyful and engaging—and that’s a tall order—is Lowery’s artwork. It has a childlike, elemental tone, with neat planes of color, but it is wonderfully, touchingly emotive. Best of all, Frog and Bunny have the radiant good cheer of a sock monkey, a mingling of the ridiculous with the sublime for a spellbinding effect. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8027-2180-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: Dec. 30, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2010
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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Hee haw.
36
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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. 29, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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BOOK REVIEW
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Fuzzy, bearlike creatures of different sizes relate to one another in an amusing story that explores the relative nature of size.
A small purple creature meets a similarly shaped but much larger orange critter. The purple creature maintains that the orange creature is “big”; the orange one counters by calling the purple one “small.” This continues, devolving into a very funny shouting match, pages full of each type of creature hollering across the gutter. This is followed by a show-stopping double-page spread depicting two huge, blue legs and the single word “Boom!” in huge display type. Tiny, pink critters then float down by parachute, further complicating the size comparisons. Eventually, these brightly colored animals learn to see things in a different way. In the end, they decide they are all hungry and trudge off to eat together. The story is told effectively with just a few words per page, though younger readers might need help understanding the size and perspective concepts. Cartoon-style illustrations in ink and watercolor use simple shapes with heavy black outlines set off by lots of white space, with an oversized format and large typeface adding to the spare but polished design. While the story itself seems simple, the concepts are pertinent to several important social issues such as bullying and racism, as well as understanding point of view.
Charming characters, a clever plot and a quiet message tucked inside a humorous tale. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4778-4772-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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