What child won’t find it hysterical to imagine a jackrabbit wearing shorts, a cheetah in cleats or a lobster with a helmet? These clever hooks draw children into learning how these animals adapt to live in their environments and serve as mnemonic devices to help them remember the information presented. People, for instance, wear raincoats to stay dry, but ducks use their beaks to spread oil on their feathers from a gland on their backs. Kaner makes her facts accessible to even the youngest listeners—repetition and humor beg for their participation, while the explanations are kept simple and succinct. Szuc’s acrylic artwork matches the tone and purpose of each page exactly. Silly pages feature cartoonish animals, while the scientific pages offer illustrations with more detail and close-up views of the adaptation being explained. A table of contents and tic-tac-toe activity and game board round out the text. A great addition to storytime line-ups (for small groups—it’s relatively wee) and nonfiction shelves. (Informational picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: April 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-55453-246-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2009
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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Hee haw.
11
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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. 29, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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It’s become predictable, this story of the pig outfoxing the fox, but Kasza’s version does sport his lively art and a measure of dry humor. When a piglet comes knocking on Mr. Fox’s door, the fox can’t believe his luck; he’s not used to delivery service. The piglet is just about to be tucked in the oven, when he suggests a few improvements to Mr. Fox. Wouldn’t he taste better if he were washed first—“Just a thought, Mr. Fox”—and plumped up and perhaps massaged to tenderize the meat? The fox agrees that he would, rushing madly about scrubbing, feeding, and working the piglet’s tissues, and promptly falling into an exhausted swoon. The pig is last seen back in his pen, thumbing through his address book—Mr. Bear, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Coyote—getting ready to work the same ruse on another carnivore. Fun enough, though no self-respecting four-year-old will be very worried about this little porker’s fate. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-399-23874-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2003
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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