by Ethan Long & illustrated by Ethan Long ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2010
Ignoring a big dragon’s repeated complaints, one, two, three…up to ten little dragons make increasing amounts of sleep-preventing noise in this bouncy counting rhyme. Using a flat silkscreen style for his digitally created cartoon scenes, Long supplies a swelling band of spiky, pop-eyed youngsters with toys and musical instruments, along with such modern noisemakers as a flat-screen television, to keep the increasingly irritated parent (or maybe older sib?) wakeful. Modeled on “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” and like chestnuts, the written narrative offers both a reasonably regular cadence and some deft alliteration: “Three dancing dragons learn to tap, tap, tap. / One groggy dragon groans, ‘I want to nap!’ ” At last the miscreants tumble into bed themselves—only to find the tables turned by their larger cavemate’s spread-filling snores. A lighthearted take on a topic of common domestic interest, equally suited to sharing one on one or with a larger audience. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2010
ISBN: 970-0-545-16557-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2010
Share your opinion of this book
More by Ethan Long
BOOK REVIEW
by Ethan Long ; illustrated by Ethan Long
BOOK REVIEW
by Ethan Long ; illustrated by Ethan Long
BOOK REVIEW
by Ethan Long ; illustrated by Ethan Long
adapted by Mara Alperin ; illustrated by Nick East ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2016
No substitutes for more traditional renditions—but not spoiled by the alterations, either.
Chicken Little may not be “the brightest chicken in the coop,” but he’s definitely not the only birdbrain in this version of the classic tale.
In East’s cartoon illustrations, Chicken Little leads the familiar crew of feathered followers (including Henny Penny, who often is the one to take the acorn on the noggin in other versions) in a comically frantic dash to find the king. But so badly does the decidedly shifty-looking Foxy Loxy bungle the climactic nab that not only do the birds escape, but Foxy is trucked off behind bars while the king calms the kerfuffle by pointing to the perfectly intact sky. The fox does better in the co-published Gingerbread Man, illustrated by Miriam Latimer, as he gobbles down his sugary treat—after which the lonely bakers take all the other hungry animals home for a “fantastic feast” of cakes and pastries. In Rumpelstiltskin, illustrated by Loretta Schauer, though the scraggly-bearded little man only has to spin straw into gold for one night, Alperin mostly sticks to the traditional plotline and ultimately sends him through the floor and into the royal dungeon so that baby Hugo and his parents live happily ever after. The illustrations in all three of these uniform editions share traditional settings, all-white humans, and bright, simple looks. The retellings are aimed at younger audiences, though by cutting the cumulative language in Chicken Little and Gingerbread Man to a minimum, the author drains some of the distinctive tone and character from those folk tales.
No substitutes for more traditional renditions—but not spoiled by the alterations, either. (Picture book/folk tale. 5-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58925-476-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
adapted by MaryChris Bradley ; illustrated by Gwé
by Amy Blay ; illustrated by Amy Blay ; translated by Susan Allen Maurin ; adapted by MaryChris Bradley
adapted by Mara Alperin ; illustrated by Erica-Jane Waters
More by Mara Alperin
BOOK REVIEW
adapted by Mara Alperin ; illustrated by Erica-Jane Waters
BOOK REVIEW
adapted by Mara Alperin ; illustrated by Sue Eastland
adapted by Katya Arnold & illustrated by Katya Arnold ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 15, 2000
In this version of a tale by early–20th-century Russian author Vladimir Suteev, Hare, Crow, and Hedgehog squabble so noisily over ownership of a fallen apple that they wake Bear, who suggests that they cut it into equal portions. Hedgehog gratefully gives Bear the fourth quarter as the peacemaker’s share—leaving a disconsolate worm to crawl away muttering that the apple was actually hers. Robbing the argument of rancor by having all of the animals (except Worm) smiling throughout, Arnold places her heavy-lined figures over simple collages constructed from large, irregular pieces of painted paper; the effect is loud, brash, kaleidoscopic. Political subtext aside, this makes an enlightened alternative to such trickster tales as Mirra Ginsburg’s Two Greedy Bears (1976), in which the sly arbitrator gets the lion’s share of the treat. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1629-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
Share your opinion of this book
More by Katya Arnold
BOOK REVIEW
by Katya Arnold & illustrated by Katya Arnold
BOOK REVIEW
by Katya Arnold & illustrated by Katya Arnold
BOOK REVIEW
adapted by Katya Arnold & illustrated by Katya Arnold
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.