Fans will be glad Kung Pow has at least two more adventures on the way.
Fowladelphia is under attack by Dr. Screech. Can Kung Pow Chicken save the day?
Gordon Blue may appear to be an average, ordinary second-grade chicken, but not long ago, he and his brother, Benedict, fell into a vat of toxic sludge in their uncle’s lab and emerged with superchicken powers. Gordon and Benny now have secret superidentities: Kung Pow Chicken and Egg Drop. In series opener Let’s Get Cracking (2014), they put Granny Goosebumps away for her evil plot to make money off of featherless chickens. Now, they have to keep their secret identities secret (especially from their mom), and nosy reporter Sam Snood is trying to expose them. When opera singer Honey Comb is chicken-napped by Dr. Screech during a performance, Kung Pow and Egg Drop crack into action. Dr. Screech gets away. Unfortunately, Sam Snood snaps some pictures and insinuates that Kung Pow is in cahoots with Dr. Screech! The boys have to enlist Uncle Quack’s help to hunt down the nefarious evildoer. Can they save the opera and Fowladelphia and clear their names? Marko’s second of four Kung Pow Chicken high-interest, fast reads for the just-ready-for-chapters reader continues Gordon’s adventures nicely, with plenty of punny action in the colorful mix of comic panels and short paragraphs of text.
Fans will be glad Kung Pow has at least two more adventures on the way. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 5-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-61064-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Branches/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
These reindeer games are a bit tired but, given the series’ popularity, should have a large, ready-made audience.
The How to Catch A… crew try for Comet.
Having already failed to nab a Halloween witch, the Easter Bunny, a turkey, a leprechaun, the Tooth Fairy, and over a dozen other iconic trophies in previous episodes of this bestselling series, one would think the racially diverse gaggle of children in Elkerton’s moonlit, wintry scenes would be flagging…but no, here they lay out snares ranging from a loop of garland to an igloo baited with reindeer moss to an enticing candy cane maze, all in hopes of snagging one of Santa’s reindeer while he’s busy delivering presents. Infused with pop culture–based Christmas cheer (“Now I’ve already seen the shelf with the elf”), Comet prances past the traps until it’s time to gather up the kids, most of whom look terrified, for a group snapshot with the other reindeer and then climb back into harness: “This was a great stop but a few million to go / Christmas Eve must continue with style!” Though festive, the verse feels trite and unlikely to entice youngsters. A sprinkling of “True Facts About Reindeer” (“They live in the tundra, where they have friends like the arctic bunny”) wrap up this celebration of the predatory spirit. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
These reindeer games are a bit tired but, given the series’ popularity, should have a large, ready-made audience. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 9781728276137
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hee haw.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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