Even those not pie-eyed for pigs will find something to like in this jolly outing.
What’s the perfect pet for you? Could it be a pig?
Haven’t you always wanted a pig? They make perfect pets. But first you have to convince your brother that he wants a pig too (instead of a rhino or gorilla or dragon). Wow him with some pig facts, like “pigs are louder than motorcycles.” If that doesn’t work, mention pigs love mud (and remind him that he does, too). Once he’s on board, you’ll have to convince your mother. She loves gardening but not pigs. Make a checklist of things you need to do before presenting your pig to mom. Top of the list, after picking him out, is cleaning him. This might be an ongoing concern (especially when your new pet decides veggies aren’t as appetizing as mom’s compost heap. Try teaching him tricks and take him to the fair to see if he can win a ribbon; Mom can’t possibly reject an award-winning pig. Or maybe the pig could help out in the garden? Marko’s graphic/early-reader hybrid about procuring a porcine pet will appeal to those looking for short, silly chapters. Her busy, cheery, full-color cartoon illustrations of a brown-skinned girl and her fair-skinned brother (with perfect pink piggie) mixed with two or three sentences per page and speech bubbles will keep pages turning.
Even those not pie-eyed for pigs will find something to like in this jolly outing. (Graphic/early-reader hybrid. 5-8)Pub Date: June 27, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6826-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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