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IF NOT FOR THE CAT

Name: IF NOT FOR THE CAT
Author: Jack Prelutsky
ISBN: 0-06-059677-5

by Jack Prelutsky & illustrated by Ted Rand ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2004

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Prelutsky changes pace and adopts a philosophical tone in a set of animal riddles framed as first-person haiku: “Gaudily feathered, / With nothing at all to say, / I can’t stop talking.” Answers are provided at the end, but they’re superfluous, as Rand fills each spread with gorgeous inked-and-brushed figures; the parrot’s plumage is more iridescent than “gaudy,” a skunk’s white stripes and tail explode like fireworks against a solidly black background, a mouse peers anxiously through its dimly lit hole, inches away from a feline nose. “If not for the cat, / And the scarcity of cheese, / I could be content.” As the solutions are there on the page, this works best if children don’t see the picture until they’ve heard the riddle, and had a chance to guess who’s posing it. But even in this uncharacteristic form, Prelutsky’s poetry is as engaging as ever, Rand has outdone himself, and the collaboration is likely to become as much of a storytime favorite as Beatrice Schenk De Regniers’s classic It Does Not Say Meow (1972). (Picture book/poetry. 5-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-06-059677-5

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
HARD-BOILED BUGS FOR BREAKFAST
by Jack Prelutsky ; illustrated by Ruth Chan

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SILVER MOON
by Jack Prelutsky ; illustrated by Jui Ishida

- BOOK REVIEW
STARDINES SWIM HIGH ACROSS THE SKY
by Jack Prelutsky ; illustrated by Carin Berger

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LITTLE STEVIE WONDER

by Quincy Troupe & illustrated by Lisa Cohen ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2005

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“Oh, isn’t he lovely, / this blind black boy, / born to love everyone?” Part biography, part finger-snapping, hip-wriggling verbal riffs, this tribute to an American musical genius conveys both the facts of his life and the rhythms—not to mention snatches of actual lyrics—of his music. Cohen cooks right along, with brightly hued, graphic-style scenes of the musician, head distinctively cocked, fronting evocative sprays of stars, flowers and beads, ribbons of piano keys and color. Closing with a recap and chronology, and even provided with a 2-song CD for a soundtrack, this will energize new listeners—and old ones, too. (Picture book/biography. 6-8)

Pub Date: April 4, 2005

ISBN: 0-618-34060-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY | CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

- BOOK REVIEW
TAKE IT TO THE HOOP, MAGIC JOHNSON
by Quincy Troupe & illustrated by Shane W. Evans

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THE COW IN APPLE TIME

by Robert Frost & illustrated by Don Yeagle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 28, 2005

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The humor in this early Frost poem—about a cow whose udder goes dry thanks to overindulging on windfalls—is largely between the lines, but that’s where Yeagle goes, providing Bill Peet–style illustrations of a knobby Holstein (named “Cleo”) with large, long-lashed eyes and an avid expression leaping over stone walls and enthusiastically chowing down in the neighboring orchard. The poem is too short—even with the text split into a single line or phrase per spread, there are extra wordless pages—and its tongue-in-cheek tone contrasts sharply with the broad humor of the pictures. Moreover, the imbedded cautionary message about the perils of alcohol abuse (the drunken cow “bellows on a knoll against the sky” before going milk-less) will be lost on younger audiences. Susan Jeffers, Ed Young and many others have done better by this quintessential American poet. (Picture book. 6-8)