Not really all that special.
A duckling becomes overwhelmed while anticipating the arrival of a new baby brother.
The protagonist duckling is confused when a turtle delivers a new baby to the house. The baby is a mouse, and the duckling says, “I’m sorry, there’s been a mistake. That’s not my brother.” The turtle insists: “No, no, I’m afraid I don’t make mistakes. This is the right house.” The duckling’s confusion increases as the turtle returns with more babies—a puppy, a kitten, a hippo, a giraffe, and a walrus. Bright illustrations with animal figures that wouldn’t look out of place on pediatrician-office wallpaper show increasingly chaotic scenes devoid of parents as the duckling assumes sole responsibility for their care. When the duckling opens the door for the last time, it’s with a mood of utter exasperation, which changes to surprise at seeing a veritable Noah’s Ark of animal pairs looking for their “deliveries.” Dogs, cats, hippos, giraffes, walruses, mice, and (finally) duck parents stand behind a chagrined turtle and a stork who’s there to sort out the mix-ups. Finally, the new duckling arrives and joins his beleaguered sibling and latecomer parents. How human children will make sense of this story is uncertain, since the notion of mix-ups in baby deliveries is potentially unsettling. It may be particularly confusing and upsetting for transracially adopted kids accustomed to seeing interspecies adoption in stories featuring anthropomorphic animals. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.6-by-16.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 17.5% of actual size.)
Not really all that special. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-908714-79-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cicada Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end.
Something is preventing Owl from falling asleep.
Owl leans back against his white pillow and headboard. “Squeek!” says something underneath the bed. Owl’s never heard that sound before, so he fastens his pink bathrobe and answers the front door. Nobody. It must be the wind; back to bed. Bidding himself goodnight, he climbs into bed—and hears the noise again. Time after time, he pops out of bed seeking the squeaker. Is it in the cupboard? He empties the shelves. Under the floor? He pulls up his floorboards. As Owl’s actions ratchet up—he destroys the roof and smashes the walls, all in search of the squeak—so does his anxiety. Not until he hunkers down in bed under the night sky (his bed is now outdoors, because the house’s roof and walls are gone), frantically clutching his pillow, does he see what readers have seen all along: a small, gray mouse. In simple illustrations with black outlines, textured coloring, and foreshortened perspective, Pizzoli plays mischievously with mouse placement. Sometimes the mouse is behind Owl or just out of his sightline; other times, the mouse is on a solid, orange-colored page across the spread from Owl, which removes him from Owl’s scene in a rather postmodern manner. Is the mouse toying with Owl? Who knows?
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-1275-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
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