Shannon dishes up a delicious trio of original “noodle” tales, set in bucolic Wise Acres and featuring a farmyard menagerie that stars Debbie, a cow with the heart and hooves of a dancer. Hearing of the Secret Chicken Club, Debbie so yearns to join that its members relax the rules for entry from laying eggs and eating worms to laughing at a lame knock-knock joke. Later, she’s distressed when her artificial “beak” (a funnel) mysteriously disappears after she lays it down in her shadow before bounding off to rehearse for an alfresco recital. Sandwiched between these two episodes is an even better one: Believing that “chicken noodle” soup is called that because it makes chickens smarter, Doug the rooster sets out to buy some—until Pearl the goat’s horrifying suggestion that, since soups are named for what goes into them, its main ingredient must be chicken brains. Illustrated with sunny watercolor scenes of popeyed livestock (all of whom, by the end, are club members) dancing and being silly, this is sure to have children signing on in flocks for repeat readings. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-59354-118-X
Page Count: 40
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2005
family’s lucky / that I didn’t want a cow!" (Picture book. 3-6)
A moderately silly counting book, with slick, cartoony, computer-influenced illustrations opposite each page of short rhymed
text. A girl in overalls buys a chick at the General Store, the kind of shop with ribbons and paint, a barrel of pickles and hams hung from the ceiling. Her older sister, charmed by the black chicks, buys two more, and her father, taken by the striped ones, buys three, and so on through her family, until over 50 baby chickens come home to roost. "There were chickens in the kitchen . . . / . . . There were chickens in my bed!" The pigtailed heroine who started it all ends by noting, puckishly, "I guess my
family’s lucky / that I didn’t want a cow!" (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-56397-800-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2000
PLB 0-688-14173-0 Jonas (Watch William Walk, 1997, etc.) “eavesdrops” on dozens of birds, then transcribes their phrases in this unique guide to bird calls. Intrigued by “memory phrases,” descriptions of bird songs found in birdwatching guides, Jonas playfully places birds in conversation with each other, then graphically provides a human context that makes their talk humorous. For example, birds whose chatter is “Kitty-kitty-kitty,” “Meow,” or “Kitty-Go” are posed flying over, wading beside, or hovering near a tabby cat hiding in beach grass. Perched outside a classroom window, the mockingbird calls, “Teacher, teacher,” alongside the yellow-throated vireo and magnolia warbler who have school-related reading and numbers as part of their songs. The funniest spread pairs birds such as the Carolina wren, who sings “Tea-kettle, tea-kettle” with the Rufous-sided towhee, saying, “Drink your tea, drink your tea,” outside a kitchen window where the stove boasts a whistling tea kettle. Another has the same towhee exclaiming, “Hot-dog-pickle-ickle-ickle” next to the common nighthawk singing, “Pork, beans” from a tree that shades a picnic site. Each bird is deftly drawn in true-to-life colors with a preciseness of line that makes for easy identification. The accompanying sounds are presented in clearly delineated speech bubbles using varying sizes and fonts. It’s hard not to warble along, inspired by the riotous conversations in this comely book that is sure to have readers “cheerily-cheer-up” with “glug glug glee.” (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-14174-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
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