A sweet take on the bumps in the road home for one shelter dog
Lucy may have been rescued from the animal shelter, but this pup takes time to adjust to her new, loving family.
The little girl in Lucy’s new family narrates the story of her fraught homecoming. At first, all is well as Lucy gets a tour of the house and backyard, but then the barking of a neighbor's dog scares her, and she hides under a bush. “I finally got Lucy to come out from behind the bush …That’s when the howling began.” In ensuing spreads, the family tries to comfort Lucy and quell her incessant howling. Ultimately, the girl lovingly gives up her “favorite stuffed animal,” which seems to do the trick. She tries to draw the line when Lucy wants another toy, but she gives in and then her parents add to Lucy’s collection, which amounts to, “… four dogs, two bears, two kittens, and one giraffe.” While having this bevy of toys soothes Lucy, their number leads to new trouble when she can’t find them all at bedtime. The girl helps her, though, and she isn’t at all put out, saying, “ ‘Good night, my perfect puppy!’ ” at book’s end. Throughout, cheery, cartoon-style illustrations depict the scenes with the good addition of hand-lettered text to highlight Lucy’s howling. The pages are filled with tiny iterations of "WAH-OOO-OOO," the letters filling readers’ eyes even as the sounds fill Lucy's family's home.
A sweet take on the bumps in the road home for one shelter dog . (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-60905-187-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Blue Apple
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Willems’ formula is still a winner.
The pigeon is back, and he is filthy!
Readers haven’t seen the pigeon for a couple of years, not since The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? (2012), and apparently he hasn’t bathed in all that time. Per the usual routine, the bus driver (clad in shower cap and bathrobe) opens the story by asking readers to help convince the pigeon to take a bath. Though he’s covered in grime, the obstreperous bird predictably resists. He glares at readers and suggests that maybe they need baths. With the turn of the page, Willems anticipates readers’ energetic denials: The pigeon demands, “YEAH! When was the last time YOU had a bath?!” Another beat allows children to supply the answer. “Oh.” A trio of flies that find him repulsive (“P.U.!”) convinces him it’s time. One spread with 29 separate panels depicts the pigeon adjusting the bath (“Too wet!…Too cold.…Too reflective”) before the page turn reveals him jumping in with a spread-filling “SPLASH!” Readers accustomed to the pigeon formula will note that here the story breaks from its normal rhythms; instead of throwing a tantrum, the pigeon discovers what readers already know: “This is FUN!” All the elements are in place, including page backgrounds that modulate from dirty browns to fresh, clean colors and endpapers that bookend the story (including a very funny turnabout for the duckling, here a rubber bath toy).
Willems’ formula is still a winner. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9087-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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