Snappy images and jazzy rhymes make this a delight to read aloud.
What would life be like with a toothy green reptile for a pet?
With this series installment, the creative team is in fine form as the series’ star, a small Black child in a blue dress and signature curled-brim hat, considers the advantages of a crocodile companion. There’s nothing wrong with fish or birds, but the child aims for a pet “with lots and lots of style”—like a croc. Crocodiles are “jazzy,” so at school the child and the croc will “practice clarinet”—though the svelte reptile appears to be playing percussion on his own scaly spine—in the “Count Snappy Quintet.” The crocodile gamely allows his elongated snout to serve as a playground slide and ferries children in pirate costumes on a small pond. Child and pet pose at the ballet barre and dine out, after which the child has to deal with cleaning up croc droppings. As the child uses an industrial scrubber to brush the croc’s choppers, their parents (one brown-skinned, one slightly lighter-skinned) hover approvingly in the doorway. The rhyming and rhythm are irresistible, ideal for storytime, with plenty of fun vocabulary (pizzazz, fangs). The child’s friends are diverse. Strikingly composed illustrations are as important as words. The game of snap leads to a punning image of jaws and cards. Warm closure replaces a final narrative surprise, and the penultimate illustration is the cleverest, incorporating references to other images in this book and to other titles in the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Snappy images and jazzy rhymes make this a delight to read aloud. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 27, 2023
ISBN: 9780500653050
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
The runaway cookie in this Mexican bakery is a soft, brown, stubby-tailed piglet as impertinently bold and smug in his continual escape as his Gingerbread Boy cousin. “Chase me! Chase me down the street. But this is one piggy you won’t get to eat! / ¡Córrele, córrele! ¡Y Córrele más! ¡Soy el cochinito que jamás comerás!” This bouncy dual refrain extends the familiar cumulative text, rendered in both English and Spanish, as piggy manages to elude Marta the baker, Lorenzo the mechanic, Mamá Nita the beautician, Joaquín the telephone repairman and a host of other neighborhood adults—until he is outsmarted by Rosa, a little girl on her way to school, who foxily “helps him” cross the street. Safely tucked into her backpack, piggy is both a welcome surprise and an excuse for Rosa’s lateness to class. Deep opaque acrylic paintings of a colorful barrio and its residents in pursuit add the right amount of cultural flavor to this vivid Latino retelling. Recipe appended. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55885-586-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
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