Freshly illustrated with retro art from Yaccarino, this 1950 tale still stands up despite its references to a once-popular song that modern children probably won’t recognize. Little Ollie diligently practices his tuba, but all he can play is “Asleep in the Deep.” Though dogs and other animals gather round to listen attentively, his Mom and the neighbors soon rise up in protest and drive him from home, from the yard and even from a farmer’s field. Fetching up at last on the seashore, he rows out into a fog—to discover that an important bell buoy has disappeared, and only he and his instrument can guide an incoming passenger liner safely into harbor. The grateful town sends him to a (distant) music school. Since Ollie’s short pants and other details in the pictures’ urban and rural settings could pass for contemporary with the text, the blend of old and new is seamless. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-375-83903-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Golden Books/Random
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2007
A wheel finds more fulfillment in work than in being a work of art in this rough-hewn tale. Though happy enough being a park sculpture, drawing birds and children by creaking around in the breeze, Willie confesses to the Moon a longing for new sights. When an appreciative politician has him uprooted and trucked off to parts unknown, Willie escapes, rolling through town until he’s finally too bent to travel. After dreaming of flying with the Moon, he is ultimately rescued from the garbage by a handyman who includes him as part of an antique-style bicycle—as Chenn so cleverly puts it: “a ‘moving’ piece of art.” The vibrant colors on the dust jacket fade to dull, muddy tones inside, but the modernistic paper collage and scribble illustrations are more arty than inviting anyway, and like the plot, are unlikely to make much of an impression on young viewers. Tales from “Gingerbread Boy” to Deborah Lund’s All Aboard the Dinotrain (April 2006), illustrated by Howard Fine, better celebrate the joys and sorrows of going mobile. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-9762-0567-X
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Heryin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
The New York Pets square off against the Boston Beasts, with the usual result, in this very distant cousin to “Casey at the Bat.” It’s the bottom of the ninth, two outs, Boston up by one—but with Pets pitcher Armand Armand Octopus hugging second and corpulent outfielder Amanda Elephant really holding down first, up to the plate comes Tulip Hippo, with her “double stubble chins” and a pink tutu “held together by a dozen safety pins.” Unlike Casey, though, Tulip drills the pitch—so hard that it sinks into the ground in front of the plate, giving all three runners time to lumber home. As the line breaks in the last verse don’t come on the rhyming words, and Lewis has Tulip bunting while in the picture she’s swinging away, this strikes out on editorial attention to detail. However, Tulip, who is last seen waving triumphantly with her teammates through a blizzard of ticker tape, makes a fetching hero, and the outsized “WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS” message at the end will be music to the ears of New York fans everywhere. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-316-61280-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
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