Little fashion bugs deserve better.
Fashion Week starring insects.
Spring is here, and everyone arrives to the meadow: models, a fashion editor, viewers, and paparazzi—all insects and other creepy-crawlies. Aponte uses matte colors, often tertiary, to create bustling scenes of the lead-up and the runway show. Before the show begins, the illustrations are visually busy, with no particular place for readers’ eyes to rest or focus; once the show begins, the compositions focus, though color saturation stays monotonously uniform. Various creatures walk the runway as each double-page spread emphasizes one color. The green page is conceptually inventive: models in green dresses appear reflected in the green eyes of green spectators, who hold up their cellphones to record. On the page highlighting white, fireflies—glowing in yellow-white—stride up the runway in gray-and-white capes. The inconsistent text sometimes scans satisfyingly: “ ‘What should we wear?’ ask the six-legged press. / ‘Who should we follow and how should we dress?’ ” Other times it stumbles: “ ‘It’s a season to BEE!’ exclaims Miss V. McQueen, / editor of BUZZ fashion magazine” (requiring incorrect syllabic emphasis). At the end, an extraneous, out-of-the-blue platitude—“In the spring, summer, fall, and winter, too— / the most important thing to BEE is… / YOU!”—undermines the high-fashion theme and falls flat.
Little fashion bugs deserve better. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-99570-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Price Stern Sloan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
