A winsome reminder that when opposites attract, true friendship can flourish.
Two different but good friends—an alligator and a crocodile—talk about their preferences.
Cheerful Ally, a gator, questions all the choices that Croc, the grumpy crocodile, makes. Drawing with crayons, Ally insists that blue, circles, and seven are “the best” color, shape, and number, respectively. When Croc calmly states a preference for red, squares, and the number nine, Ally is irritated but still appreciates their friend. “It is a good thing I like you so much….You are one weird crocodile.” In another story, Croc patiently tries to offer Ally alternatives to pancakes. All prove to be tasty and enjoyable, but after lots of cooking and eating, the very full Ally still asserts that pancakes are their favorite. Finally, Ally creates a “Little Croc” sock puppet that agrees with everything Ally says. Croc is not amused until Ally says, “Croc, I am only kidding….You know I like you the best.” Made up of short, repetitive sentences and succinct chapters, this early reader chronicles a funny, simple story along with black-outlined, humorous drawings of a tall alligator and a stout crocodile who walk on two legs. The characters’ affection and respect for each other despite their differences are heartening. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A winsome reminder that when opposites attract, true friendship can flourish. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: July 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-38758-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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