by Clare Foges ; illustrated by Al Murphy ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 9, 2017
Cute and catchy.
The banana acts as DJ for a crazy dance party that happens nightly, involving all the fruit in the kitchen.
While your family sleeps, there’s a party going on. It’s a “pumping jumping funky bash.” The fruit all jump out of their bowl (“Parrtaay!”) and dance. Each fruit has its own personality and dancing style. The banana, in charge of the music, also spins and jumps and, of course, does splits. The lemons love to rap and break dance. The coconut is a clown, diving into the sink full of suds for a bubble bath. A bouncy tangerine spins so much that all her juice comes out. The shades-wearing pineapple is very cool; his hair is spiked, and he hangs out by the microwave. “The grapes are such a silly bunch, they boogie in a conga!” With their big fat bottoms, pears groove across the floor. And when the kids (a white brother and sister) wake up and check it out, they’re glad to join the party. Foges’ rhyming text includes several cute puns, and Murphy’s heavily outlined, colorful illustrations are busy and bright. Sound effects and dialogue in speech bubbles (“Uh-oh…” / “Busted!”) add to the fun. Readers can visit the book’s website to hear the song and watch a video that accompanies the book, though it’s a disappointment the book features many more verses than the online performance.
Cute and catchy. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-571-33697-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
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by Clare Foges ; illustrated by Al Murphy
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by Michael Ian Black & illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2012
Ironically, boring.
A kid and a tuber dispute what is and isn’t boring, to no particular avail.
The beginning’s fun. A scowling, cartoon-style girl with a large head and sideways pigtails flops from one dramatic posture to another, complaining, “I’m bored. / Bored. Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. / I’m so BORED!” White space surrounds her. From nowhere, a potato appears. This girl must really live in white-space-land, because she’s initially thrilled: “Hey! A potato!” Then she rejects it and tosses it upwards. It falls, bonks her on the head and sits on the ground. “I’m bored,” announces the suddenly anthropomorphic potato in one of two genuinely funny moments. Previously unable to entertain herself, the girl labors to prove she’s interesting. She demonstrates cartwheels, ninja kicks and imagination games—lion taming; dragons and swords; forcing the potato to walk a pirate-ship plank—all of which Ohi sketches in pale blue. The surly potato stubbornly remains bored. Their argument ends without satisfaction or vindication; the girl yells, mouth wide and black like in Peanuts, and departs in frustration. There’s one more funny moment—not the appearance of a random flamingo (flamingos being, inexplicably, the potato’s only interest in life), but the flamingo’s closing complaint. Yep: “I’m bored.” Turnabout’s fair play, but the whole piece feels like a smarmy lesson about how annoying it is when someone insists on boredom.
Ironically, boring. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-1403-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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by Michael Ian Black ; illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi
by Michael Ian Black ; illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi
by Michael Ian Black ; illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi
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by Barbara DaCosta & illustrated by Ed Young ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2012
This relatively gentle tale celebrating the power of imagination fails to cover new territory but is executed quite well....
Debut picture-book author DaCosta pens the quietly suspenseful quest of a ninja on a late-night mission…to the kitchen!
Succinct language full of vivid verbs describing the action sets the mood for Young’s lushly textured illustrations composed with cut paper, cloth, string and colored pencil. “The clock struck midnight…” and a grappling hook appears on the page turn, followed by a nimble and stealthy figure in black ably navigating every obstacle in his path. Climbing and clambering, balancing and leaping, he finally reaches his goal. Just as the ninja takes out his tools and goes to work, “Suddenly the lights flash on!” On this spread, the dusky hues and patterns utilized up to this point vanish to show an imposing hand-on-hip towering black silhouette against a glaringly bright, white background. Of course it turns out to be the child’s mother catching her little one with a spoon stuck into what appears to be a chocolate-flavored treat. With the mission for a sweet snack aborted, mother proposes, “how about a getting-back-into-bed mission?”
This relatively gentle tale celebrating the power of imagination fails to cover new territory but is executed quite well. Good to share at bedtime with antsy adventurers but too subdued a choice for die-hard Ninjago fans. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-316-20384-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
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by Barbara DaCosta ; illustrated by Ed Young
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