Another charmer from the reliable Hayes; newly independent readers won’t need any condiments to gobble it down.
Four more minitales (Patrick: A Teddy Bear’s Picnic and Other Stories, 2011) take the irrepressible ursine from mealtime to bathtime to bedtime, with a side venture out into the yard to “help” daddy rake leaves.
In the opener, the round-eared, red-nosed tyke initially regards the peas on his plate as “little green balls of MUSHY POISON!” but after negotiations, he ultimately downs them with generous helpings of ketchup and jelly as his revolted (“Yuck!”) but indulgent mother looks on. Misadventures with a weeding fork, a water hose, bath toys and large quantities of bubble bath follow—capped at last with much protestation and foot dragging on the way to bed. Underscoring all this cozy domesticity, the anthropomorphic Patrick and his parents look like teddy bears with a certain amount of koala in their DNA. The stubby figures, pale colors and soft-edged lines on view in Hayes’ sequential scenes hark back to Lillian Hoban’s illustrations for her (then) husband Russell’s classic A Bargain for Frances (1970) and its sequels.
Another charmer from the reliable Hayes; newly independent readers won’t need any condiments to gobble it down. (Graphic easy reader. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-9351-7934-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: TOON/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
No sooner do Mr. Magic the magician and his canine sidekick stretch out for a snooze than a blue rabbit hops from the top...
Insouciant bunny meets slow-witted bulldog in this nearly wordless romp.
No sooner do Mr. Magic the magician and his canine sidekick stretch out for a snooze than a blue rabbit hops from the top hat on the nearby bureau. A bucket of veggies in the adjacent kitchen looks enticing—but there’s a problem: how to get past the sleeping dog? Very simply drawn and colored in an angular retro style, the figures in Simard’s unframed sequential panels display cartoonishly exaggerated expressions. These are perfectly suited to a chase that begins with the crunch of a stepped-on peanut and escalates into a kitchen free-for-all in which spilled milk and sprayed ketchup play major roles. Sound effects and speech bubbles that often contain nothing but single images or punctuation marks give a handy assist: "FLUMP!"; "[light bulb]"; "PBBTTTHH!"; "!?" In the end the bunny gets its carrot, and the poor dog definitely comes off second best.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55453-577-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
A visually formatted joke book to inspire thinking as well as laughs. (Graphic early reader. 4-6)
Benjamin Bear deals with life in his own straightforward way.
When Benjamin’s friends goldfish and canary both express a desire to see "what's under the sea," Benjamin comes up with a way to grant their wish: He puts goldfish in canary’s cage and canary in the up-ended goldfish bowl full of air. Both enjoy their trip. When Benjamin can’t quite bring himself to leap off a cliff wearing his hang glider, he enlists an unfriendly dog to chase him over the edge. When friend fox won’t play tennis with him, Benjamin lobs the ball at fox’s head…and it comes right back, just like in the game. In single-page skits of two to seven panels each, Benjamin solves problems and entertains himself and his friends with inimitable style and seriousness. Toon Books continues its new (and award-winning) series of early readers in graphic-novel format by introducing American audiences to Coudray’s eccentric Benjamin Bear. In France, he’s known as Barnabé, and he’s starred in 12 collections for young readers since 1997. Courdray’s droll vignettes in a muted palette will be the perfect enticement for those with a visual sense of humor who are just starting to read.
A visually formatted joke book to inspire thinking as well as laughs. (Graphic early reader. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-935179-12-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: TOON/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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