With a repetitive rhyme, Morley introduces the sounds of animals in an imaginative look at a farmyard. The cat goes ``fiddle-i-fee,'' the hen goes ``chimmy-chuck,'' the cow goes ``moo, moo,'' etc. Most of the creatures look as if they've been plucked right out of a Grandma Moses painting and laid down on plain brown wrapping paper, while the people and cats have the long thin look of fashion illustrations of the `20s and `30s. All wind around and through snipped and spindly flowers and trees while the various animals raise their voices in a cacophonous expression of farmyard life. Toddlers will love joining in the melange with their own resounding ``fiddle-i-fees!'' (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: March 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-671-89551-6
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
Cheerful illustrations accompany a lackluster text that seems more suited to a storyteller's live performance than the page. Shannon (Still More Stories to Solve, 1994, etc.) pens a story of dancing frogs, who shimmy through April rains while being chased by a snake. It's a theatricality, of course, since the snake is comprised of frogs in costume, but that's not the only contrivance. The song the gleeful amphibians sing is full of dance kicks, steps, and hops; as verse it hardly scans and is difficult to read aloud. Fortunately, there is plenty going on in the illustrations, featuring bright frogs and flowers. These reassure by showing just how the performers ``trick'' the audience. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: April 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-688-13121-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
Short on savvy, long on oafishness, this ode to frustration is as balky as the theme. Albert, a hippopotamus, settles down to a nap. A mosquito makes an appearance, bedeviling the planned siesta. Albert loses his composure and with increasing ferocity, pursues the little bloodsucker, first with his hand and eventually by hurling the contents of the entire house. Naptime resumes when Albert opens a window and the pest flies out. The vibrant, raggedy- edged watercolors float amiably on a sea of white, but unlike Grejniec's previous books (Good Morning, Good Night, 1993, etc.) the story itself feels artificial from start to finish. Neither character inspires any sympathy, and it's not always clear just who is uttering the lines of minimalist text; if that ambiguity is intended, it's likely to confuse the book's audience. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: May 15, 1995
ISBN: 1-55858-279-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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