Children and hotels don’t seem like a natural fit, but Malin’s superb and ingenious photographs should amuse a broad range...
Take a tour of the famous Parker Hotel, where there’s a lot of horseplay…and camel play, and lion play, and….
Vivid digital photographs depict a bevy of animals wandering around the hotel and its grounds. Maurice, the concierge, welcomes you. He’s an expressive monkey in a red fez. “HOP over,” and get a key from Wally the desk clerk, who’s a kangaroo. The owner, Mr. Parker, is a majestic lion. A camel stands near the pool, then roams the halls, looking for her room. (She’s a guest, and her name is Callie.) There’s an ostrich playing tennis, flamingos having a party, and an elephant named Eliza charging down a path surrounded by tall hedges and studded with colorful balloons. The pastry chef is a small white pig named Pierre; he has baked the guests some delicious treats, which Maurice is happy to serve. Expressive Maurice can be spotted all over the complex, fiddling with the TV remote, snuggling in a king-size bed, playing ping-pong. He also waves goodbye to readers at the end of this tour of the Parker. The text, which arbitrarily capitalizes various words, reads like the voice-over it essentially is. An author’s note explains that the real Parker Hotel in Palm Springs inspired his work and informs readers that the animals were photographed in situ.
Children and hotels don’t seem like a natural fit, but Malin’s superb and ingenious photographs should amuse a broad range of readers. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2930-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Hee haw.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn.
A young owl achieves his grand ambition.
Owl, an adorably earnest and gallant little owlet, dreams of being a knight. He imagines himself defeating dragons and winning favor far and wide through his brave exploits. When a record number of knights go missing, Owl applies to Knight School and is surprisingly accepted. He is much smaller than the other knights-in-training, struggles to wield weapons, and has “a habit of nodding off during the day.” Nevertheless, he graduates and is assigned to the Knight Night Watch. While patrolling the castle walls one night, a hungry dragon shows up and Owl must use his wits to avoid meeting a terrible end. The result is both humorous and heartwarming, offering an affirmation of courage and clear thinking no matter one’s size…and demonstrating the power of a midnight snack. The story never directly addresses the question of the missing knights, but it is hinted that they became the dragon’s fodder, leaving readers to question Owl’s decision to befriend the beast. Humor is supplied by the characters’ facial expressions and accented by the fact that Owl is the only animal in his order of big, burly human knights. Denise’s accomplished digital illustrations—many of which are full bleeds—often use a warm sepia palette that evokes a feeling of antiquity, and some spreads feature a pleasing play of chiaroscuro that creates suspense and drama.
A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-31062-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
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