With a little humor and its resourceful boy and girl owl friends, this provides a comfortable experience for newly...
This cupcake mystery should make readers hungry for Wallace and Grace’s newest case.
Two animals request help from the avian gumshoes. Monty the chipmunk contends that Sal the groundhog stole his cupcake, a treat found right before the winter (the “hibernating” season, as explained by Grace, who “loved using big words”) began. Wallace shows off his knowledge by mentioning Feb. 2 as the day when “groundhogs wake up…to look for their shadow.” Sal swears he didn’t steal the confection and wants to hire the detectives to prove his innocence. After taking both cases, the partners start their investigation. Sounding like Sgt. Friday of old-time TV, Wallace tells Monty: “Give the facts and only the facts.” The owls try to find eyewitnesses, another important detection tool, but when they interview Nisha the snake, they realize that she didn’t see anything. The case becomes even more complicated with the introduction of Scarlet the cardinal and a fox that Grace thinks may be the “culprit.” Wallace and Grace gather clues until they solve the mystery and bring all the animal friends together for a party. With this outing, the series, begun in Wallace and Grace Take the Case (2017), is gaining momentum and providing a stronger plotline. Happy, cartoonish art appears in full color throughout.
With a little humor and its resourceful boy and girl owl friends, this provides a comfortable experience for newly independent readers. (Mystery. 6-8)Pub Date: May 23, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68119-010-5
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
A worthy tale, if not very well thought out nor the comic gold of Eric Rohmann’s similar, Caldecott-winning My Friend...
How will hungry Rabbit reach the apple hanging so far out of reach? With help from friends, of course!
Shuffling miserably through a barren, wintry landscape speckled with falling snow, Rabbit spots the bright red apple hanging from a leafless branch in truly mouthwatering splendor. His own efforts to reach it proving vain, off he goes to enlist aid from Mouse, then from an ill but amicable Fox. Neither alone nor stacked atop one another can they reach high enough until Bear joins them. Success at last, though Fox’s ill-timed sneeze causes all to tumble into the snow. Oral pays more attention to his theme than to finicky details: the animals divvy up the apple (how?) and eat their portions for dinner (a rather paltry meal, except maybe for Mouse, and a surprising choice for Fox, considering that two of his three companions are prey). They then repair to Bear’s den and fall together “into a deep, happy sleep”—right next to the apple’s intact, neatly shaved core. Analytical young readers will have questions about the internal logic here and will also note that as often as not in the illustrations the animals walk on their hind legs. No matter: cooperation toward a goal is always worth a shoutout, and sharing the resulting prize seems only fair.
A worthy tale, if not very well thought out nor the comic gold of Eric Rohmann’s similar, Caldecott-winning My Friend Rabbit. (2002). (Picture book. 6-8) . (2002)(Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-988-8240-00-5
Page Count: 36
Publisher: minedition
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
A sensitive reminder that imagination can provide comfort, though not in unlimited quantity.
Nino and his imaginary dog are inseparable companions—until a tangible pet comes along.
“Nino had a dog that he didn’t have,” van de Vendel writes. A dog that chases squirrels and jumps into Nino’s great-grandma’s lap, listens to phone calls from a faraway parent, and licks up saltwater tears. The illustrations depict a rumpled-looking lad roaming through a blended setting of pine woodlands, muddy yards, and rustic interiors hung with mementoes of far-off places with a dog visible as an unfilled outline. A glance at them will quickly clue in children who might be confused by the narrative conceit. But the diaphanous dog disappears one day when another dog arrives: it’s “soft. And sweet. And obedient. And naughty. And small. And everyone can see it.” This dog is afraid of Great-Grandma and can’t listen on the phone. But it’s all good, because Nino suddenly realizes that along with the much-loved dog that he does have, he can still have one, or many, that he doesn’t—and other creatures too, from a make-believe bear to a “not-hippopotamus.” Still, even surrounded by his selectively invisible menagerie, he remains a solitary figure, and his grave, lonely expression lends a poignant undertone to closing scenes of daytime play and nighttime dreaming.
A sensitive reminder that imagination can provide comfort, though not in unlimited quantity. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5451-3
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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