Not the Best Riff on a Children’s Classic Ever, but good for the occasional chuckle. (Picture book. 7-9)
A twisted Richard Scarry–esque outing finds the creators’ “Uglydoll” figures serving in place of all the cute kitties and puppies and piggies.
Aimed at hip graduates of Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever (1963) and modeled after same, this visit to the Uglyverse invites readers to pore over big, busy, labeled assemblages of cartoon images while helping blobby Babo do a variety of things. They will search a city streetscape for his one-eyed unicorn, make stops at Ugly Port Harbor and elsewhere, tour a farmer’s market and a factory, then finally explore Babo’s home and neighborhood for such items as an “ebook reader,” a pitcher of “tea with interesting taste” and “pricey 1/6 scale action figures from Hong Kong.” Along with wisecracks in each relatively thematic spread’s introductory paragraph (“What’s a pleasure boat? Anything small that doesn’t sink”), the authors mix conventional descriptive words for common objects and people with a sardonic lexicon of terms both useful (“ATM number pad,” “retro game machine,” “parking enforcement officer”) and less so (“magnetic blender,” “canned moonlight”). Each is placed near a small, simply drawn item or garishly colored monster.
Not the Best Riff on a Children’s Classic Ever, but good for the occasional chuckle. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-375-86434-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
This tale’s jokes and triumphant ending will delight young readers.
A lactose-intolerant tooth fairy saves the day in this gleefully gross picture-book debut.
Following one simple rule on the first day of tooth-fairy school shouldn’t be hard; all Irma has to do is avoid dairy, which will upset her stomach. But when she gets milk and crackers for a snack on the school bus, she doesn’t want to stand out. She drinks the milk but pays the price—squirming when she’s supposed to be paying attention in class, then letting “out a toot / that was long, loud, and smelly.” The other kids laugh, and the teacher scolds Irma, reckoning that a flatulent fairy won’t be able to collect teeth unnoticed. At every turn, Irma fails—until a too-high window has the tooth fairies stymied and Irma’s toots save the day. This book’s concept isn’t unique, but Donnelly’s sometimes-clever rhymes, which offer toot-related vocabulary (farted, flatulate), scan well, and designer/letterer Dukeshire lays out stanzas for easy rhyming despite omitted punctuation. Van Gool’s delightful illustrations have the feel of an animated cartoon; characters almost leap off the page. The tooth-fairy children share similar body types, but their skin tones are a range of colors. Irma’s flatulence is a fantastically gross green cloud sure to delight potty-humor fans.
This tale’s jokes and triumphant ending will delight young readers.Pub Date: Nov. 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-578-77309-4
Page Count: 36
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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