Sure to have readers rooting for Zebra and laughing, too.
Can the animals at Sunset Safari Park save their home?
Pessimistic Penguin thinks nothing can save the doomed game preserve where he and a bevy of other animals live, since no one ever visits anymore. Zebra is more hopeful and rallies a flamingo, a lion, a giraffe, and various other creatures behind a cockamamie plan to grow “the biggest beets in the world.” Penguin thinks this idea is “bonkers,” but lo and behold—it works! Due in part to the copious amounts of manure the animals provide it, one particular beet grows to enormous proportions, attracting visitors by the hundreds. In fact, it grows so big that it crowds out the crowds. What will the animals do now? Zebra comes to the rescue again with a fork and a spoon and a mighty appetite. “Are you BONKERS?…You can’t eat all that,” says Penguin. But, in keeping with the story’s tall-tale feel, Zebra does eat the whole beet. In doing so, he transforms from a white-and-black striped animal to a purple-and-black one—and from a mere park resident to its new main attraction. People by the thousands visit, and the park is saved. Throughout, Jevons’ cartoon illustrations amplify the silly text’s humor with strong visual characterization and funny details.
Sure to have readers rooting for Zebra and laughing, too. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-84886-310-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Maverick Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
A funny David-versus-Goliath story with a one-word question serving as the slingshot. (Picture book. 3-5)
Doctor X-Ray, a megalomaniac with an X-ray blaster and an indestructible battle suit, crashes through the ceiling of the local mall.
Innocent patrons scatter to safety. But one curious child gazes directly at the bully and asks: “Why?” At first, Doctor X-Ray answers with all the menace and swagger of a supervillain. The curious child, armed with only a stuffed bear and clad in a bright red dress, is not satisfied with the answers and continues asking: “Why?” As his pale cheeks flush with emotion, Doctor X-Ray peels back the onion of his interior life, unearthing powerful reasons behind his pursuit of tyranny. This all sounds heavy, but the humorously monotonous questions coupled with free-wheeling illustrations by Keane set a quick pace with comical results. At 60 pages, the book has room to follow this thread back to the diabolical bully’s childhood. Most of the answers go beyond a child’s understanding—parental entertainment between the howl of the monosyllabic chorus. It is the digital artwork, which is reminiscent of Quentin Blake’s, that creates a joyful undercurrent of rebellion with bold and loose brush strokes, patches of color, and expressive faces. The illustrations harken to a previous era save for the thoroughly liberated Asian child speaking truth to power.
A funny David-versus-Goliath story with a one-word question serving as the slingshot. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4521-6863-0
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end.
Something is preventing Owl from falling asleep.
Owl leans back against his white pillow and headboard. “Squeek!” says something underneath the bed. Owl’s never heard that sound before, so he fastens his pink bathrobe and answers the front door. Nobody. It must be the wind; back to bed. Bidding himself goodnight, he climbs into bed—and hears the noise again. Time after time, he pops out of bed seeking the squeaker. Is it in the cupboard? He empties the shelves. Under the floor? He pulls up his floorboards. As Owl’s actions ratchet up—he destroys the roof and smashes the walls, all in search of the squeak—so does his anxiety. Not until he hunkers down in bed under the night sky (his bed is now outdoors, because the house’s roof and walls are gone), frantically clutching his pillow, does he see what readers have seen all along: a small, gray mouse. In simple illustrations with black outlines, textured coloring, and foreshortened perspective, Pizzoli plays mischievously with mouse placement. Sometimes the mouse is behind Owl or just out of his sightline; other times, the mouse is on a solid, orange-colored page across the spread from Owl, which removes him from Owl’s scene in a rather postmodern manner. Is the mouse toying with Owl? Who knows?
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-1275-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
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