A high-interest story with a gentle message that is sure to appeal to animal lovers.
After he finds an orphaned baby squirrel clinging to a screen door, Nathan and his parents decide to care for the animal.
Realizing that there might be more than just one orphan, they search the nearby trees and discover six others. They become foster parents to the litter, a process that is described in limited detail. Nathan, who is almost 8 and depicted as white on the cover, has been yearning for a pet, but his parents assure him that these wild animals are not candidates for the role. Batcat, a neighborhood stray, seems like a more appropriate choice. When the battered old tom begins defending the litter of squirrels and then taking a major interest in their well-being, it cements a developing relationship between Nathan’s family and the needy but independent cat. In simple text, and accompanied by at least one attractive, soft-edged black-and-white drawing per brief chapter, veteran author Walters relates a true tale from his own childhood. Nathan’s contented relationship with his parents provides a quiet, tender backdrop to the squirrel and cat tale. His parents’ matter-of-fact ways of handling these animal challenges are both endearing and instructive as they calmly pick up information from the internet and then put it to best use.
A high-interest story with a gentle message that is sure to appeal to animal lovers. (author’s note) (Fiction. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1255-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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