In the fifth Big Foot and Little Foot book, Hugo and Boone go on a moneymaking adventure.
The toy store downtown is hosting a special appearance by Sasquatch celebrity Mad Marvin, who’s selling his Marvelous Monster Magnet. To earn money for one, aspiring cryptozoologists Hugo (a Sasquatch) and Boone (a human, White) take a couple of delivery jobs. In the woods on a run, they’re pursued by something mysterious that turns out to be a Sasquatch wearing a hat and riding a moose (drawn, like other illustrations, to emphasize silly playfulness). He offers the boys a chance to split a treasure he’s looking for with him, giving them directions. The directions bring the boys to a hill where, while the boys play a somersaulting game, a sneaky gremlin steals the package they’re delivering! They trade Boone’s new shoes to get it back, but Boone struggles in the woods without them. Throughout the straightforward plot, delivered in Potter’s characteristically breezy style, Hugo mentally makes a list of things he envies about humans—such as cool shoes and pockets—and then crosses the items off as he realizes Sasquatches have their own strengths. After the deliveries, Hugo finds a way to recover Boone’s shoes, and the boys learn the wholesome truth of the treasure. They decide they like things just the way they are—Hugo a Sasquatch and Boone a human—and that they’ll skip the Monster Magnet for monster-finding adventures instead.
Slightly message-heavy but delightful and accessible nevertheless. (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4324-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S PARANORMAL & SUPERNATURAL
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Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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A color-themed vision of what school should be like.
In what amounts to a rehash of The World Needs More Purple People (2020), Bell and Hart address adult as well as young readers to explain what “curious and kind you” can do to make school, or for that matter the universe, a better place. Again culminating in the vague but familiar “JUST. BE. YOU!” the program remains much the same—including asking questions both “universe-sized” (“Could you make a burrito larger than a garbage truck?”) and “smaller, people-sized” (i.e., personal), working hard to learn and make things, offering praise and encouragement, speaking up and out, laughing together, and listening to others. In the illustrations, light-skinned, blond-haired narrator Penny poses amid a busy, open-mouthed, diverse cast that includes a child wearing a hijab and one who uses a wheelchair. Wiseman opts to show fewer grown-ups here, but the children are the same as in the earlier book, and a scene showing two figures blowing chocolate milk out of their noses essentially recycles a visual joke from the previous outing. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
The message is worthy, but this phoned-in follow-up doesn’t add anything significant. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-43490-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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