A sweet and silly tale of a raucous yet deeply courageous pup.
A new fur baby attempts to earn her place in the heya.
Following the misadventures of SumoKitty (2019), the black-and-white feline diligently watches over the heya, or training center, alongside Kuma, the yokozuna, or grand champion. While they both have grown in skill—Kuma in sumo, the cat in hunting for mice—the friends are older now and want to pass down their knowledge. While Kuma is already busy teaching, SumoKitty longs for a student, lamenting that kittens live too far away, “on the other side of the river.” Surprisingly, a pug puppy dubbed Chanko-chan is brought to the heya. Chanko-chan quickly chooses SumoKitty as her target of affection; a montage of the annoyances the kitty endures ensues. SumoKitty attempts to teach the pup to catch mice, with disastrous results, and Chanko-chan is kicked out. But the little dog’s dedication and bravery are unmatched, and she finds a way to prove herself to the sumo wrestlers. The spare narrative leaves most of the humor and emotional arc of the story to the detailed illustrations. Cool colors are juxtaposed with warmer tones, and while the humans are depicted realistically, the animals have a more cartoonish look, especially bug-eyed Chanko-chan. The tale is set in Japan, and Japanese terms are interspersed throughout, along with definitions. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sweet and silly tale of a raucous yet deeply courageous pup. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-62354-301-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
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
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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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