by Hope Vestergaard and illustrated by Valeria Petrone ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2010
Unruly critters from Sycamore Preschool learn bathroom etiquette in this wry tale. Rambunctious rhymes delineate the offenses of an assortment of forgetful creatures. From Benji the barger, who fails to knock before entering, to Georgie’s aversion to wiping, all aspects of potty-training fundamentals are covered. Standard rhymes in an abcb pattern divided between each two-page spread outline commonplace infractions and are concluded with an exuberantly delivered reminder. Petrone’s digital artwork portrays a cuddly zoo of offenders, including diminutive hippos, congenial tigers and perky pigs. Vestergaard tackles a delicate subject with levity, humor and a keen understanding of the potty-related foibles of the very young. Amid the giggles and innocuous bathroom humor, this potty primer adeptly conveys its vital message to preschoolers. This welcome addition to the genre offers parents and teachers a playful way to address a necessary topic. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4027-5996-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
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by Doreen Cronin & illustrated by Harry Bliss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2005
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2010
Hee haw.
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The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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