An entertaining, short novel for early readers that promotes creativity, friendship, and acceptance.
In Wallace’s (Trojan, 2016) middle-grade novel, illustrated by Dean (A Bark in a Prayer, 2015), a misfit bunny finds a home and learns to accept himself as he is.
Ralphy is a long-eared rabbit whose unusual looks condemn him to be passed over by prospective owners as other animals find new homes. But one day he finally finds his home with Marta, a young girl who convinces her parents, Daddy John and Mama Sarah, that she’d much rather have an out-of-the-ordinary rabbit than a dog or a cat. Ralphy soon settles into Marta’s house, making friends with Goldie, the resident fish, but his new niche is threatened when Marta brings home an injured feline, whom she names Oscar. Ralphy is jealous of the new arrival, and his antagonism increases when he discovers that the cat is only faking an injury in order to avoid the streets. With Goldie’s help, Ralphy hatches a plan to visit Marvin the Magician, whom he’s seen on TV, so that he may change into a real boy and reclaim his position as the family favorite. A series of mishaps on the way to the flea market leaves Ralphy and Oscar relying on each other to survive. Wallace’s contribution to talking-pets literature is an enjoyable one, featuring a compelling plot and engaging characters. Ralphy’s sense of inadequacy comes across as endearing without crossing over into self-pity (“She was the first kid that wanted him. He wanted her, too”). The animals’ struggle for household supremacy raises the stakes of their minor conflicts, and Ralphy’s and Oscar’s efforts to hide from animal control and avoid becoming stray dogs’ dinner create an age-appropriate atmosphere of peril. Although the book presents its moral a bit too forcefully in the closing pages, the overall story retains its entertainment value. Dean’s simple grayscale illustrations, sprinkled throughout the text, are valuable additions to the narrative—making it clear, for example, that Ralphy’s ears truly are ridiculous.
An entertaining, short novel for early readers that promotes creativity, friendship, and acceptance.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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