Struggling to sleep, the late Branford’s (The Fated Sky, not reviewed, etc.) porcine star embarks on a series of adventures in this satisfying bedtime fantasy. Muñoz’s (Dream Dancer, p. 106, etc.) dreamy watercolors picture the pig cavorting at the bottom of the sea, where a drowsy mermaid and sleepy starfish kindly ask him to keep quiet. “Shush, Pig Figwort. . . . Don’t you know it’s nighttime?” When he zips about the North Pole on a Ski-Doo, a grumpy polar bear asks, “Can’t you see we’re sleeping?” After each excursion, Little Pig Figwort returns restlessly to his bed. Finally, he decides that what he really needs is “. . . a trip to . . . the moon.” Muñoz’s full-bleed illustration shows the irrepressible porker aboard a green rocket. On the cratered, yellow moon, a band of sunglasses-wearing pigs awaits his arrival with a guitar, a violin, and a pair of maracas clutched in their cloven hooves. Wide-awake, the “moon pigs” and Little Pig Figwort play “snoutball,” “Pig Pirates,” and “Rocket Races.” Finally, Little Pig Figwort decides to call it a night and head back home. “That was so much fun that I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again.” Young readers will surely predict what’s next: the last series of vignettes shows the once-perky porker as he finally settles down to sleep. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: March 18, 2002
ISBN: 0-618-15968-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
Mixed-race children certainly deserve mirror books, but they also deserve excellent text and illustrations. This one misses...
This tan-skinned, freckle-faced narrator extols her own virtues while describing the challenges of being of mixed race.
Protagonist Lilly appears on the cover, and her voluminous curly, twirly hair fills the image. Throughout the rhyming narrative, accompanied by cartoonish digital illustrations, Lilly brags on her dark skin (that isn’t very), “frizzy, wild” hair, eyebrows, intellect, and more. Her five friends present black, Asian, white (one blonde, one redheaded), and brown (this last uses a wheelchair). This array smacks of tokenism, since the protagonist focuses only on self-promotion, leaving no room for the friends’ character development. Lilly describes how hurtful racial microaggressions can be by recalling questions others ask her like “What are you?” She remains resilient and says that even though her skin and hair make her different, “the way that I look / Is not all I’m about.” But she spends so much time talking about her appearance that this may be hard for readers to believe. The rhyming verse that conveys her self-celebration is often clumsy and forced, resulting in a poorly written, plotless story for which the internal illustrations fall far short of the quality of the cover image.
Mixed-race children certainly deserve mirror books, but they also deserve excellent text and illustrations. This one misses the mark on both counts. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63233-170-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Eifrig
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Desperation confused for hysterics.
Harris’ latest makes an urgent plea for somber reflection.
“Stop! Stop!! Stop!!!” Right from the get-go, readers are presented with three rules for reading this book (“Don’t look at this book!” “Do look at your listener!” “Get your listener to look at you!”). But the true lesson is in the title itself: If anyone listening to this book laughs, you have to start it all over. Challenge accepted? Good. Sheer frenetic energy propels what passes for a narrative as the book uses every trick up its sleeve to give kids the giggles. Silly names, ridiculous premises, and kooky art combine, all attempting some level of hilarity. Bloch’s art provides a visual cacophony of collaged elements, all jostling for the audience’s attention. Heavily influenced by similar fourth wall–busting titles like The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992) by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith, and the more contemporary The Book With No Pictures (2014) by B.J. Novak, these attempts to win over readers and make them laugh will result in less giggles than one might imagine. In the end, the ultimate success of this book may rest less on the art or text and more on the strength of the reader’s presentation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Desperation confused for hysterics. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-42488-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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