A seeming friendship turns out to be anything but in this startling double debut. In the art, created with deceptive simplicity from geometric shapes, bright solid colors, and occasional clipped photos, a yellow bird poses next to a blue boat, a white hotel, and a red electric guitar in succession, as a small black spider asks puzzled questions: “Why don’t you fly across the sea?” “I like to sail, actually.” “Why don’t you make a nice, cozy nest?” “I like hotels, actually.” Also, explains the bird, dancing on the beach, taking luxurious baths, and wearing striped socks. Readers expecting another comfortably conventional take on the pleasures of being unconventional are in for a shock, though, as Spider’s next question is its last: “Why don’t you eat some yummy, squelchy worms?” “Actually . . . I like to eat spiders.” Gulp. Not nice—not nice at all. The art and very brief text will steer this toward younger readers; the plot may provide a bit of emotional preparation for later encounters with the likes of “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” or Hilaire Belloc’s genially savage verses. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-58234-874-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2004
Baker (Big Fat Hen, 1994, etc.) engages in more number play, posing ducklings in every combination of groups, e.g., “Splashing as they leap and dive/7 ducklings, 2 plus 5.” Using a great array of streaked and dappled papers, Baker creates a series of leafy collage scenes for the noisy, exuberant ducklings to fill, tucking in an occasional ladybug or other small creature for sharp-eyed pre-readers to spot. Children will regretfully wave goodbye as the ducks fly off in neat formation at the end of this brief, painless introduction to several basic math concepts. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-292858-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
Laugh-out-loud fun for all.
Hilarious complications ensue when Nanette’s mom gives her the responsibility of buying the family baguette.
She sets out on her errand and encounters lots of distractions along the way as she meets and greets Georgette, Suzette, Bret with his clarinet, Mr. Barnett and his pet, Antoinette. But she remembers her mission and buys the baguette from Juliette the baker. And oh, it is a wonderful large, warm, aromatic hunk of bread, so Nanette takes a taste and another and more—until there is nothing left. Maybe she needs to take a jet to Tibet. But she faces her mother and finds understanding, tenderness, and a surprise twist. Willems is at his outlandish best with line after line of “ettes” and their absurd rhymes, all the while demonstrating a deep knowledge of children’s thought processes. Nanette and the entire cast of characters are bright green frogs with very large round eyes, heavily outlined in black and clad in eccentric clothing and hats. A highly detailed village constructed of cardboard forms the background for Nanette’s adventures. Her every emotion explodes all over the pages in wildly expressive, colorful vignettes and an eye-popping use of emphatic display type. The endpapers follow the fate of the baguette from fresh and whole to chewed and gone. Demands for encores will surely follow.
Laugh-out-loud fun for all. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-2286-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
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