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
PLB 0-688-15542-1 My Day In The Garden ($16.00; PLB $15.93; Apr.; 24 pp.; 0-688-15541-3; PLB 0-688-15542-1): The creative heroines in this gentle story of easy companionship show that rainy days can be full of fun. “Berry-picking with the birds./Lunch with the ladybugs./Under a tree for a nap,” are among the scenes; with the aid of costumes and the girls’ imaginations, the foursome create their own party, dressing up as butterflies, ladybugs, crickets, even worms. They eat, wriggle, sing, and play hide-and-seek. As darkness falls, the girls disband, and one child is seen asleep, with more dreams of the garden dancing in her head. Lobel’s idyllic illustrations are as lovely as a sunny summer afternoon, while the lyrical text demonstrates inventive simplicity. Charming. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-15541-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
An alphabetic array of animals dressed in spiffy, sparkly human attire gathers every year in the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool for a dancing competition: affluent alpacas, bears in bright boleros, camels who conga, all the way to wolves and wolverines who do the Watusi and beyond. A few creatures are unexpected: N is for numbats, U is for ugwumps (“We have just invented these”) and X is for oxen who foxtrot. The bordered watercolor-and-gouache illustrations flounce and swirl, busily filling the pages in a style reminiscent of Graeme Base but with less crisp definition. Written in verse, often alliterative, the conceit works, but the “I Spy” facet does not. At the end, the judges declare everyone winners, but the band can’t play the grand finale because the monkeys have hidden all 26 instruments. The hidden objects are quite difficult to find, and frustrated readers may end up resorting to the upside-down key in the back and flipping to the endpapers, where all 26 are clearly depicted. At least two will be unfamiliar to kids: a guiro and a contrabassoon. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8109-8842-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2010
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
