by Frans Vischer ; illustrated by Frans Vischer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2013
Fuddles is quite a character, and kids (and adults) who love cats will love Fuddles too.
In this second story about Fuddles the cat (Fuddles, 2011), he is accidentally locked out of the house on Christmas Eve, leading to a snowy adventure for the pampered feline.
In the self-centered manner of most cats, Fuddles thinks all the special Christmas decorations and preparations must be there just for him. There’s an unguarded table with a huge turkey, packages with interesting ribbons, and an enormous tree with lights and sparkly ornaments, just waiting for him to climb. After the Christmas tree topples to the ground, a befuddled Fuddles runs out the open door just as guests are entering. But Fuddles is clearly an indoor cat. Suddenly, he is in a frozen, white world, and he can’t get back into the house. He rambles around his yard, plowing through the snowdrifts, before finding his way back into the house by sliding down the chimney. Vischer, an animator for Disney, provides polished, computer-generated illustrations, showing off the cat’s comical, high-energy antics with effective use of display type and white space. He uses a satisfying array of perspectives, including a surprising, all-black spread of the cat sliding down the chimney that is laugh-out-loud funny.
Fuddles is quite a character, and kids (and adults) who love cats will love Fuddles too. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4169-9156-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
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by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2010
Hee haw.
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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. 28, 2018
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by Todd Tarpley ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2023
Slapstick fun for any season.
Sometimes the holidays get messy.
When a light-skinned leprechaun—complete with red beard and clover-adorned hat—appears at the end of a rainbow on a hill dotted with tulips, he’s all set to bury his gold…until the Easter Bunny hops over in a huff. The leprechaun is digging up all the tulips where the bunny was planning to hide his eggs. Their argument escalates, and readers will be reminded of Looney Tunes battles between Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck as each employs more and more outrageous traps and tricks to humiliate the other. The duo keep the fight up until a new visitor arrives; although St. Valentine’s Day has passed, a plump, light-skinned Cupid is ready to start planning for next year—allowing the two to join forces against a common enemy. The text is told in rhyming stanzas: “ ‘Gold!’ cried the bunny, / but when he bent over, / the leprechaun pushed him / facedown in the clover!” It’s not Shakespeare, but it moves the plot along. The digital illustrations are riotously funny, and the final image of the three spring holiday mascots scowling at one another, having reached an uneasy friendship, will have readers giggling all year long. Skilled storytellers will enjoy hamming up the action as the characters attempt to assert their dominance over their hillside home. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Slapstick fun for any season. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-316-37426-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
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