A little boy takes a walk with his Grandpa through a city, and they see many things: tall buildings, a construction site and a museum with an enormous dinosaur skeleton. As they walk, the boy asks questions: about how the buildings got so tall, how the streets got so dirty or how the dinosaur got put together. Grandpa answers all the questions with the same refrain: “a little at a time.” The concept slowly sinks in, and toward the end the boy is able to answer his own question with the same line. Grandpa keeps it going all the way to naptime, however, which makes one wish that the refrain were used more sparingly and less predictably for greater punch. What does work is how the phrase is applied to both good and bad—the putting together of the skeleton versus pollution, for instance. Tong’s painterly images communicate exactly what the boy and his Grandpa see but come off a bit stiff and old-fashioned. Still, Adler clearly navigates an important and often-forgotten concept for little thinkers growing up in a world full of immediate gratification. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8234-1739-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2010
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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Even more alliterative hanky-panky from the creators of The Wonky Donkey (2010).
Operating on the principle (valid, here) that anything worth doing is worth overdoing, Smith and Cowley give their wildly popular Wonky Donkey a daughter—who, being “cute and small,” was a “dinky donkey”; having “beautiful long eyelashes” she was in consequence a “blinky dinky donkey”; and so on…and on…and on until the cumulative chorus sails past silly and ludicrous to irresistibly hysterical: “She was a stinky funky plinky-plonky winky-tinky,” etc. The repeating “Hee Haw!” chorus hardly suggests what any audience’s escalating response will be. In the illustrations the daughter sports her parent’s big, shiny eyes and winsome grin while posing in a multicolored mohawk next to a rustic boombox (“She was a punky blinky”), painting her hooves pink, crossing her rear legs to signal a need to pee (“winky-tinky inky-pinky”), demonstrating her smelliness with the help of a histrionic hummingbird, and finally cozying up to her proud, evidently single parent (there’s no sign of another) for a closing cuddle.
Should be packaged with an oxygen supply, as it will incontestably elicit uncontrollable gales of giggles. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-60083-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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Llama Llama loses a tooth for the first time.
All of the wiggling can make having a loose tooth fun, but there can be some worry, too. How will it fall out? There is a tooth fairy? What does she do? Llama Llama is distressed. “Is it fun? / Or is it scary? / Just who, exactly, / IS this Fairy?” Luckily, Mama is there to help. “The Fairy’s great. She’s kind and funny. / She takes your tooth / and leaves you money.” Llama Llama is on board with that! Appropriately, exactly how much money is never specified, but the tiny llama fairy is shown carrying a bag stuffed with bills. Hopefully she has many houses to visit. Gram and Grandpa have lots of ideas on how to get the tooth to fall out, but Llama’s tooth stays put until bedtime. Suddenly, Llama realizes his tooth is gone: “OH NO. / Where is that tooth? / Where did it GO?” Will the tooth fairy come if the tooth is lost? The comforting cadence of the rhymes paired with warm, textured hues soften all the drama. As in the other posthumously published Llama Llama books, Morrow’s textured paintings emulate Dewdney’s definitively lined renderings. The fluttering llama fairy, along with Llama’s stuffed llama, whose wide eyes notice all, will delight eagle-eyed readers. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.3-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 41.8% of actual size.)
A rite of passage seen through the lens of a favorite literary pal. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-20603-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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