Captain Underpants look-alikes return with a caper sure to tickle preschool funny bones at storytime.
Playful rhyming couplets reveal the necessity of backsides.
You’d think it’d be cushy to write about tushies. You’d think it’d be easy to please. Instead, it’s a chore. The effort’s a bore, and rhyming takes real expertise. Aronson pulls it off in this jaunty picture book enlivened by humorous cartoons featuring chubby, shmoo-like figures dressed in an amazing variety of underwear. When all the tushies in town decide their lives are “too tough” and take off for vacation at the beach, people discover just how important these body parts are in their lives. Their clothes won’t stay up, and they can’t sit down. There’s no real narrative arc here. The rumps run away, romp in the sun and then return, while their owners worry and wonder where they’ve gone. The couplets, often set as quatrains, sit directly on the illustrations, many of which are double-page spreads that expand the story. Stevanovic’s ink-and-watercolor illustrations, digitally enhanced, show unhappy townsfolk making do with pillows and suspenders while detectives and police carry on their investigation and the runaways enjoy the shore. A wraparound cover sets the stage, depicting the bums escaping into the night.
Captain Underpants look-alikes return with a caper sure to tickle preschool funny bones at storytime. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-1197-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
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BOOK REVIEW
A quick recap for younger fans of the perennial stop-motion holiday classic.
Produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1964 made-for-TV film, this keepsake pairs a summarized plot to pop-up tableaux fashioned from select stills.
Beginning with the “reindeer games” in which Rudolph—or, more specifically, his cherrylike schnozz—is unmasked, the six spreads layer cut-out figures of the characters in wintry scenes linked by prosaic but easily digestible narrative overviews: “The friends landed on the Island of Misfit Toys. It was filled with toys that no one wanted because they were different, too.” Opening each spread causes the Abominable Snow Monster or some other figure to rear up past the cover edges. That effect is seen at its grandest in the climactic final scene, in which, following Santa’s “Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?” (“It will be an honor, sir”), sleigh and reindeer arc overhead while elves and Mrs. Santa applaud below. For a more developed and physically durable version of the film’s plotline, a picture-book edition written by Thea Feldman with similar-looking art by Erwin Madrid is available (2014) as is a new reissue of the original story by Robert L. May with more accomplished illustrations by Antonio Javier Caparo (2014).
A quick recap for younger fans of the perennial stop-motion holiday classic. (Pop-up picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-62686-197-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
Children and adults will be charmed by the latest in this amiable series.
On his last run to Jerusalem before the Passover holiday, Engineer Ari manages to gather all the necessary items for his Seder plate, arriving home exhausted just before the holiday’s ceremonial dinner begins.
Ari is in a hurry, rushing to keep his train on schedule while trying to gather everything on his Seder shopping list. Luckily, his many friends along the way are more than willing to help. Neighbor Miriam will roast a fresh egg and leave it on his doorstep; Moshe, picking dates and almonds from his orchard, will make him some extra charoset; friend Shifra gives him a bunch of parsley from her abundant basket; Aaron shares his horseradish root by breaking it in half. Once the train arrives in the Old City, Ari quickly finishes his shopping with a shankbone from the butcher, as well as enough matzo from the factory to bring back as a thank-you to all his neighbors and friends. The action plays out on the now-familiar, earnest Israeli’s short train ride from Jaffa to Jerusalem in the late 19th century, while neatly folding in the key components of the annual weeklong spring celebration. Nostalgia, companionship and cooperation are emphasized in the simple text and winsome retro-style illustrations.
Children and adults will be charmed by the latest in this amiable series. (glossary, author’s note) (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4677-3470-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
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