by Cece Bell ; illustrated by Cece Bell ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 8, 2016
Skip—skinned knees should be the only elementary school drama.
A first-grade love story with a woodchuck as a go-between. Really.
Other kids bring a ukulele, a sombrero, a feather, or a tadpole to show and tell. Not Chuck. He brings Woodchuck to class, and the guest rodent entertains everyone to such an extent that he becomes a permanent fixture in the classroom. Woodchuck is especially friendly to Caroline, the first-person narrator, a brunette who wears glasses. On a cold, windy day, Woodchuck delivers a hat for her to wear that looks suspiciously like Chuck’s. And when she drops her cupcake, Woodchuck is there with another: Chuck’s. The rodent-mediated sweetness continues throughout the school year, until Chuck finally works up the courage to ask her if he and Woodchuck might walk her home, the final spread showing the three of them holding hands, Woodchuck in the middle. While kids will undoubtedly find Woodchuck’s antics cool, this is otherwise a very odd picture book—a love story involving 6-year-olds. They don’t play together, and Chuck isn’t protecting his ladylove from bullies or standing up for her, making this story about as far from first-grade reality as it can get (besides the genius mammal). Bell’s ink-and-digital cartoon illustrations depict blocky characters with not much facial expression, excepting Woodchuck, who rather steals the show. Both main characters are white, though there is a bit of diversity in the school.
Skip—skinned knees should be the only elementary school drama. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7524-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2010
Hee haw.
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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. 28, 2018
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by Tedd Arnold ; illustrated by Tedd Arnold ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2013
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity.
Buzz and his buzzy buddy open a spinoff series of nonfiction early readers with an aquarium visit.
Buzz: “Like other fish, sharks breathe through gills.” Fly Guy: “GILLZZ.” Thus do the two pop-eyed cartoon tour guides squire readers past a plethora of cramped but carefully labeled color photos depicting dozens of kinds of sharks in watery settings, along with close-ups of skin, teeth and other anatomical features. In the bite-sized blocks of narrative text, challenging vocabulary words like “carnivores” and “luminescence” come with pronunciation guides and lucid in-context definitions. Despite all the flashes of dentifrice and references to prey and smelling blood in the water, there is no actual gore or chowing down on display. Sharks are “so cool!” proclaims Buzz at last, striding out of the gift shop. “I can’t wait for our next field trip!” (That will be Fly Guy Presents: Space, scheduled for September 2013.)
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity. (Informational easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-50771-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
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