Sacre bleu! With Monsieur Monmouton the farmer and his faithful dog Cabot again in hot pursuit, the barnyard crew that enjoyed A Spree in Paree (2004) hie off to the Big Apple. Effectively concealing themselves from Monmouton, but not from readers, in Stock’s splashy, crowded, jewel-toned watercolors, the animals shop at Blooming Dells, enjoy (and even become) art at MOOMA, take a trip around Manhattan on the Oval Line and settle down at last for an evening of jazz at the Kool Kat Klub. There, they find Monmouton waiting for them, his head and attitude already turned by a pretty waitress. And hardly has Cabot patiently herded all aboard the plane and back to France than a perfumed postcard arrives, announcing an imminent visit in return. Ooh la la! Non–New Yorkers may not recognize all the locales—but the thrill of the chase and general bumptiousness of the menagerie will easily carry any young armchair tourists along for the ride. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-8234-1994-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Gliori (Mr. Bear Babysits, etc.) offers a version of the adage that it takes a village to raise a child, when Mr. and Mrs. Bear get help from a community of loving friends in soothing their fretful newborn. When the serenity of the nighttime forest is shattered by the incessant wailing of Mr. Bear’s newest child, the woodland animals offer the bleary parents suggestions on how they put their own offspring to sleep. With ingenious and amusing results, Gliori devises forest-appropriate baby furniture, from Mr. Bun’s lettuce and carrot cradle to Mrs. Buzz’s honey-filled hive. Alas, none of these remedies works and soon the friends drift back to their own homes. Only Small Bear can enlighten her parents as to what the baby needs—a warm snuggle in bed with the family. The endearing illustrations are brimming with humorous details. The bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Bear looks as if a small whirlwind hit it—it is strewn with tiny clothes, small toys, the ubiquitous pile of baby care manuals, ointment, and more—deftly conveying the way one very small and helpless creature can reorient a family’s entire universe. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30152-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
PLB 0-688-15996-6 The familiar plight of the smallest is the subject of this picture book from Keller (Brave Horace, 1998, etc.), featuring a baby bear, who is smaller than his mother, father, and siblings. Jacob is frustrated when he can’t reach the cookie jar, see himself in the mirror, or climb to the top of the jungle gym. Papa and Mama tell him he must wait to grow bigger, but Jacob hates waiting. Paint marks on a tree replace the traditional notches in a door frame to mark Jacob’s height. No matter how many vegetables he eats, he doesn’t grow; when the snows come, his mark is buried in a drift. After the snow melts, the reassuring ending finds Jacob grown, not only in stature but in maturity. The apple-cheeked characters are round and cuddly, while the homey, pen-and-watercolor scenes are ever-affable. At their center, the demonstrative Jacob is an everychild, learning to find joy in small measures. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-15995-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
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