Beginning readers will be able to read this refreshing tale alone; younger kids will tell it from the pictures.
A child and a dog go through their day together.
With nary an adult in sight, the 4- or 5-year-old unnamed child with messy brown pigtails takes charge, brushing the dog in a messy bathroom, feeding the dog at a little table where it wreaks havoc, dressing the canine in all sorts of outfits, and finally taking it outdoors, where the duo meets a small gold-and-brown cat. The dog gets away from its owner and merrily chases the cat through the park, until the child falls in the mud and finally catches the leash again, just in time for ice cream. With just three words in each spread and only the verb varying (“Train your dog. / Treat your dog”), the watercolor-and–colored-pencil art provides delightful details, sometimes using animation strategies to advance the action, as in the “Train your dog” spread, in which the child first glares at the dog, the dog then licks the child, the child instructs the dog, and finally, in a full-page illustration, the dog sits and wags its tail, drawn as three tails with arcing motion lines crossing them. The suburban setting is shown in soft, light pastel hues, while the big, brown dog is given texture with pencil. The minimal text works well with the maximal visual storytelling.
Beginning readers will be able to read this refreshing tale alone; younger kids will tell it from the pictures. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-54652-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
The runaway cookie in this Mexican bakery is a soft, brown, stubby-tailed piglet as impertinently bold and smug in his continual escape as his Gingerbread Boy cousin. “Chase me! Chase me down the street. But this is one piggy you won’t get to eat! / ¡Córrele, córrele! ¡Y Córrele más! ¡Soy el cochinito que jamás comerás!” This bouncy dual refrain extends the familiar cumulative text, rendered in both English and Spanish, as piggy manages to elude Marta the baker, Lorenzo the mechanic, Mamá Nita the beautician, Joaquín the telephone repairman and a host of other neighborhood adults—until he is outsmarted by Rosa, a little girl on her way to school, who foxily “helps him” cross the street. Safely tucked into her backpack, piggy is both a welcome surprise and an excuse for Rosa’s lateness to class. Deep opaque acrylic paintings of a colorful barrio and its residents in pursuit add the right amount of cultural flavor to this vivid Latino retelling. Recipe appended. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55885-586-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
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