An intergenerational lark for readers with a high tolerance for foolishness.
Syndicated cartoonist Crane teams up with Young to create an adventurous shaggy dog story.
When grandson Nelson asks for a story, Grampa begins. “There once was this animal…you know, the hump one?” Nelson replies, “A camel?” Grampa answers, to Nelson’s astonishment, “That’s right, a humpback whale!” The story continues in this manner as the two characters imagine a thoroughly nonsensical yarn filled with Grampa’s surprise responses to the questions he’s posed. The arc of the story becomes increasingly absurd, to the vexation of the boy. “What? But Grampa….” The whale is not swimming in the ocean, as Nelson assumes, but a swimming pool; a black-and-white bird that can’t fly is not a penguin but an ostrich; the guy that works at the pool is not the lifeguard but the hot dog vendor. Nelson begins to think Grampa is deaf, “What? Can you even hear me?” Crane’s signature drawings feature white-haired, bespectacled grandparents and their blond grandson (all are white) in oversized pages to depict the ludicrous cumulative venture Grampa keeps fabricating, often placing Nelson and Grampa within the scenarios Grampa cooks up. Though the bright, young boy loves his Grampa, this kind of creative storytelling can be ridiculous. Kids will identify with Nelson as his exasperation brings him to the more sensible Gramma for another story. What will hers entail?
An intergenerational lark for readers with a high tolerance for foolishness. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-936097-15-9
Page Count: 33
Publisher: Baobab Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Gently models kindness and respect—positive behavior that can be applied daily.
A group of young “dinosauruses” go out into the world on their own.
A fuchsia little Hugasaurus and her Pappysaur (both of whom resemble Triceratops) have never been apart before, but Hugasaurus happily heads off with lunchbox in hand and “wonder in her heart” to make new friends. The story has a first-day-of-school feeling, but Hugasaurus doesn’t end up in a formal school environment; rather, she finds herself on a playground with other little prehistoric creatures, though no teacher or adult seems to be around. At first, the new friends laugh and play. But Hugasaurus’ pals begin to squabble, and play comes to a halt. As she wonders what to do, a fuzzy platypus playmate asks some wise questions (“What…would your Pappy say to do? / What makes YOU feel better?”), and Hugasaurus decides to give everyone a hug—though she remembers to ask permission first. Slowly, good humor is restored and play begins anew with promises to be slow to anger and, in general, to help create a kinder world. Short rhyming verses occasionally use near rhyme but also include fun pairs like ripples and double-triples. Featuring cozy illustrations of brightly colored creatures, the tale sends a strong message about appropriate and inappropriate ways to resolve conflict, the final pages restating the lesson plainly in a refrain that could become a classroom motto. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Gently models kindness and respect—positive behavior that can be applied daily. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-82869-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
A straightforward tale of conflict and reconciliation for newly emergent readers? Not exactly, which raises it above the...
In this deceptively spare, very beginning reader, a girl assembles a robot and then treats it like a slave until it goes on strike.
Having put the robot together from a jumble of loose parts, the budding engineer issues an increasingly peremptory series of rhymed orders— “Throw, Bot. / Row, Bot”—that turn from playful activities like chasing bubbles in the yard to tasks like hoeing the garden, mowing the lawn and towing her around in a wagon. Jung crafts a robot with riveted edges, big googly eyes and a smile that turns down in stages to a scowl as the work is piled on. At last, the exhausted robot plops itself down, then in response to its tormentor’s angry “Don’t say no, Bot!” stomps off in a huff. In one to four spacious, sequential panels per spread, Jung develops both the plotline and the emotional conflict using smoothly modeled cartoon figures against monochromatic or minimally detailed backgrounds. The child’s commands, confined in small dialogue balloons, are rhymed until her repentant “Come on home, Bot” breaks the pattern but leads to a more equitable division of labor at the end.
A straightforward tale of conflict and reconciliation for newly emergent readers? Not exactly, which raises it above the rest. (Easy reader. 4-6)Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-87083-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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