An unusual bird soars through striking art and powerful imagery. A boy gives a forsaken egg to a nearby hen, who gladly mothers her fosterling. When hatched, the bird’s hooked beak inspires his name, and his matted feathers and outstretched claws display his youthful strength. Although numerous flying attempts prove futile, the mighty bird eventually spreads his wings in a glorious double-page spread, “for he was not meant for earth.” Pacing builds through each page turn, taut phrases increasing intensity. “He pushes off, but falls to earth…. / An even higher place. / Another try. / Another fall.” The prevalent red-dirt background conveys the richness of the natural world and the warmth of both the Pueblo setting and Hook’s adoptive family. Vibrant, minimal chalk drawings—hardly more than sketches, but glorious ones—utilize shifting perspectives to enhance the sky’s imposing vastness. Blue light transcends as the bird struggles for flight, finally soaring against the magnificent canyon. The child’s face is often hidden from view, with the focus on the birds’ transformative expressions. Arresting and absorbing, this tale soars. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59643-363-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2009
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
Chato and Novio Boy, low-riding East Los Angeles homeboys of the feline variety, have dinner guests. The invitees, a family of five fat mice who just moved in next door, haven't an inkling that they are the intended main course. But when the mice bring along their friend Chorizo (a worldly mutt in a slouch beret) to share the grub, he thwarts the cats' connivings. This unlikely three- species chow-down is a sweet salute to Spanish cooking, with fajitas, frijoles, and quesadillas sharing center stage. Soto delivers a spare, clever text; the words skip like stones across water—``His tail began to swing to the rhythm. He felt the twinge of mambo in his hips.'' Guevara's swarming, luxuriant illustrations give the atmosphere palpability, with brushstrokes so fresh readers will want to stick their fingers in the paint to feel its texture. Menace hangs in the air; the artist mixes the sinisterness of R. Crumb with moments of Edvard Munch terror, yet it seems likely from the outset that the mice are more than capable of looking after themselves. Incidental touches—little devils and angels darting about, a bird wedding glimpsed through a window—are there for the sharp-eyed. Smart, with a nice edge. Soto's inspired finger-snapping prose has found an equally imaginative comrade in Guevara's colorful urban paintings. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 22, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-22658-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1995
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