While there is a nugget of appeal in the illustrations of the endearing puppy, this effort falls short in its intended...
In this Swiss import, a young dachshund puppy named Nugget explores the world outside his home, comparing his own small stature with larger animals and structures.
Nugget is only 10 months old, and he feels small and rather powerless, his view of the world limited to gazing up at large tables, towering trees, and sky-high buildings. As he ventures out on his own into the city, Nugget longs to see a great vista from a high perspective. With the help of his friends, the puppy finds his way to an enormous bridge where he looks down on the river and tall buildings and discovers “what it’s like to be big.” In the tradition of the traveler who gratefully returns home with an enlightened consciousness, Nugget finds his way back to his own cozy house and decides being a small and pampered pet is not so bad after all. While his quest to expand his worldview from a higher perspective has some philosophical validity, the illustrations do not show Nugget’s expansive view, and the story doesn’t convey his transformative experience. The text is a classic example of the need to show rather than tell, as the dog’s experiences and feelings are described in rather dry prose that fails to make Nugget a compelling character. The subject of relative perspective is explored with much greater success in You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant (2014).
While there is a nugget of appeal in the illustrations of the endearing puppy, this effort falls short in its intended thematic journey. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4242-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too many bugs, figuratively.
Lucy, “the youngest member of a family of fireflies,” must overcome an irrational, moon-induced anxiety in order to leave her family tree trunk and glow.
The first six pages pull readers into a lush, beautiful world of nighttime: “When the sun has set, silence falls over the Big Forest, and all of the nighttime animals wake up.” Mixed media provide an enchanting forest background, with stylized flora and fauna eventually illuminated by a large, benign moon, because the night “doesn’t like to catch them by surprise.” Turning the page catches readers by surprise, though: the family of fireflies is decidedly comical and silly-looking. Similarly, the text moves from a lulling, magical cadence to a distinct shift in mood as the bugs ready themselves for their foray into the night: “They wave their bottoms in the air, wiggle their feelers, take a deep, deep breath, and sing, ‘Here we go, it’s time to glow!’ ” It’s an acceptable change, but more unevenness follows. Lucy’s excitement about finally joining the other bugs turns to “sobbing” two nights in a row. Instead of directly linking her behavior to understandable reactions of children to newness, the text undermines itself by making Lucy’s parents’ sweet reassurances impotent and using the grandmother’s scientific explanation of moonlight as an unnecessary metaphor. Further detracting from the story, the text becomes ever denser and more complex over the book’s short span.
Too many bugs, figuratively. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-84-16147-00-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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