Share this cartoonish, mock-horror tale with the not-so-sleepy at bedtime or rely upon it as a superb storytime choice where...
“Do YOU ever WONDER if somewhere, not too far away, there might be… / MONSTERS?” Whether readers do or not, it is hard to resist being swept up in the silly suspense of possibly becoming the target for this monster’s hungry attention.
A pea green, neon-pink–horned creature with big, white eyes and a wide-open mouth with yellow stubs of teeth comes off as more ridiculous than terrifying. But the language warns of his impending approach through pointed questions: “And as he crosses the gloopy, schloopy swamp…do you think he’s imagining just HOW GOOD you’ll taste all covered in ketchup?” Vere strikes the perfect balance of humor and thrills—so much so that readers may not know if they should be shaking with fear or laughter as the story progresses. After the monster happily rides his red bicycle through the “dark and terrible forest,” “tiptoes through thorns and thistles” and “climbs up the cold and snowy mountains,” getting ever closer, he arrives in town, creaks up the stairs and “opens your bedroom door” because “THIS monster wants… / a disgustingly sloppy GOODNIGHT KISS!”
Share this cartoonish, mock-horror tale with the not-so-sleepy at bedtime or rely upon it as a superb storytime choice where all can have fun participating in the hilarious sound effects. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 17, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9509-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
Will make readers fall in love with the city depicted within.
From a nurse to an emergency dispatcher, a look at the city dwellers whose work begins when the sun goes down.
Reading this book is like looking through a telescope—there are windows on nearly every page; some pages feature rectangular, windowlike vignettes of people at work. On the front cover, a taxi driver is visible through the side window of a cab, with a dog sitting up in the back seat. Above them, on an upper floor, a museum worker is doing some vacuuming, with dinosaur bones in the background. Many of the people can be seen only from a great distance, and the details we learn about them often come from just a few spare sentences: “The museum is closed, but the janitor and security guard are hard at work.” Downing’s blue-tinged, cozy artwork sometimes makes words almost unnecessary—in this case, the accompanying illustration says it all, a full spread showing the janitor reaching up to dust the nose of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. Most of the people who are working late seem to be smiling, and while it’s difficult to find a message in the limited text, readers will close the book feeling that there’s joy to be found in every job and every schedule. The residents of this urban environment are diverse in skin tone. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Will make readers fall in love with the city depicted within. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-8234-5206-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
A serene invitation to see and to think about both shape and concept.
A celebration of all things round—mostly in nature but also beneath a cozy blanket, in a circle of friends, encircled by loving arms.
“I love round things,” and “I love to see round things grow.” With expressions of surprise or quiet pleasure in Yoo’s soft, idyllic outdoor scenes, a child with East Asian features plants peas, peeks at the round eggs of a turtle and a ladybug, blows bubbles, points to tree rings and to a huge full moon. Accompanied by her youthful-looking dad (or big brother?), she carries a basket of blueberries, explores a beach, canoes past water-rounded rocks, and chucks pebbles into a pond. With five friends—each showing a different set of ethnic markers—she lies beneath autumn leaves hand in hand, heads in the center of the circle; alone, she curls up under a comforter with a pet and a picture book. The visual tally and terse commentary close with a hug and the circle-closing words “I love round things.” Roundness abounds in Yoo’s mixed-media prints: there are oranges, spirals on a turtle’s shell, the black centers of sunflowers, the concentric rings of a stump. In two pages of backmatter, Sidman goes on to describe how roundness benefits seeds, eggs, and other living things.
A serene invitation to see and to think about both shape and concept. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-544-38761-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
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