bookshelf

I SAW A BULLFROG

Name: I SAW A BULLFROG
Author: Ellen Stern
ISBN: 0-375-82173-2

by Ellen Stern & illustrated by Ellen Stern ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 22, 2003

bookshelf

Stern showcases unusual facility at naturalistic depiction, but like the 11 imaginary animal hybrids that appear here, the result overall is neither fish nor fowl. Though she smoothly carries off the melding of bull and frog into “bullfrog,” and tiger and shark into “tiger shark,” other combinations, such as those for the goose barnacle, the deer mouse, and the rat snake, look like cut-and-paste jobs. Nor is there consistency in the accompanying verses, either in quality—“I saw a bullfrog perched on a lily. / He was bigger than it, so he looked sort of silly”—or in message, as some are straight descriptions, some speculate about whether the animals would use one set of mismatched appendages or the other, and some earnestly make the point that the creature opposite doesn’t really exist. Stern closes with small black-and-white portraits of the actual animals, plus a few facts. The failure here is not in quality of art, but of imagination; next to Jack Prelutsky’s Scranimals, or Sarah Perry’s If— (1995), too many of these creations just fall flat. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: April 22, 2003

ISBN: 0-375-82173-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2003

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

bookshelf

BEST BUNNY BROTHER EVER

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Tim Bowers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 6, 2026

A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.

bookshelf

Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.

Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.

A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)

Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026

ISBN: 9798217032464

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST
by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis

- BOOK REVIEW
IT'S NOT EASY BEING SANTA CLAUS
by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis

- BOOK REVIEW
CHARLIE PIECHART AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING PIZZA SLICE
by Eric Comstock & Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Eric Comstock

bookshelf

HENRY AND MUDGE AND THE STARRY NIGHT

From the Henry and Mudge series

by Cynthia Rylant & illustrated by Sucie Stevenson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1998

bookshelf

Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)