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SOMEWHERE ELSE

Successful overall, if not without a few puzzlements.

Don’t put off until tomorrow what can be accomplished with a hot air balloon today.

George Laurent, a duck, has many skills. His baking is magnifique! His yoga is skillful! And his ironing is…prompt. But George is missing one important skill that every duck should have: George never learned how to fly and has been procrastinating ever since. Procrastinating, that is, until one winter when George finds himself alone. Mostly alone, anyway; George’s bearish neighbor, Pascal Lombard, is still around, and he quickly helps George face his dillydallying. Pascal’s attempts to help George lead to some creative solutions, which ultimately end in the creation of the aforementioned hot air balloon and some fabulous travels. Gordon’s story will amuse readers with its snappy narration and dry-as-a-pizzelle wit, but some of his choices may lead to a few head scratches. For example: how is a traditionally Austrian strudel evocative of Paris, as a friend claims? Likewise, is an éclair reminiscent of the Andes? Less-ambiguous visual cues might have helped decode these quirks. The illustrations, a mix of watercolor, pencil, crayon, and cut paper, are a delectable treat, but they’re best served up close as a lap-read as opposed to in a crowded storytime. Readers who enjoy Angela Dominguez’s Let’s Go, Hugo! and Ryan T. Higgins’ Mother Bruce will particularly appreciate meeting George.

Successful overall, if not without a few puzzlements. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-62672-349-8

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook

Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017

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WAITING IS NOT EASY!

From the Elephant & Piggie series

A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends

Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”

When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.

A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)

Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Hyperion

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014

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FIELD TRIP TO THE MOON

A close encounter of the best kind.

Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.

While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.

A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: May 14, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House

Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019

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