This illustrated collection gives novice joke tellers—and their parents—some excellent puns to draw from.
A debut picture book delivers jokes for the preschool crowd.
Finding jokes that are both funny and make sense to younger readers can be a challenge. But Henley Belle Johnson—with help from her mother and editor, Elle Muliarchyk Johnson, and debut illustrator Dalbuz—captures that balance perfectly here. The title joke uses a pun on the animal’s name, linking it to a sound-alike article of clothing (“A Z-BRA!”). The majority of the jokes in the collection begin with an animal, using the creature’s name (or the sound it makes) to complete a pun in the punchline. The clever way of playing with sounds makes the jokes accessible to younger readers. Helpful, color-printed portions of dinosaur names are especially useful in offering pronunciation clues to young listeners trying to guess the answers to the questions posed. One Spanish joke—“What does grass say to the gardener who waters it? GRASS-ias!”—shows readers that plays on words are not limited to English. Dalbuz’s brightly colored cartoon images are silly fun and will keep youngsters who can’t yet read giggling even if they don’t guess the punchlines. While the majority of the humans featured in the book have pale skin, one young joke teller and another background character are people of color. The animals, particularly the dinosaurs, are far more diverse.
This illustrated collection gives novice joke tellers—and their parents—some excellent puns to draw from.Pub Date: July 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-692-12425-3
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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