Budding engineers of any species will agree that Oona has well earned the right to feel “just as big as a duck should feel.”...
A farmyard duck who’s not built for speed finds a way to win the morning race down to the pond.
Being big of chest and stubby of leg, Oona stands no chance against her three slimmer, longer-limbed fellow ducks in the morning rush. “Last is a blot on my life,” she kvetches to her friend Roy the frog. “I don’t feel as big as a duck should feel.” But, as Roy reminds her, she is “good with gizmos,” and maybe, just maybe she could concoct something to give her that needed boost? Good with gizmos she proves to be, and though the wobbly cart and the workout machine she cobbles together from unlikely assortments of junk stored in the shed fail to fill the bill, a climactic inspiration involving laundry, a basket, and a launch from the barn’s roof really puts the wind beneath her wings (so to speak). Soon Bim, Bam, Bop, and even Roy are asking for rides. Martin tells the tale in rollicking cadences just right for reading aloud—”A gust of wind grabbed the sails and up she went. OOO-hoolie-hoo!”—and with fine comic flair Day sets the (more or less) naturalistically depicted tinkerer, every feather bristling with concentration, amid enticing jumbles of pulleys, ropes, and buckets of detritus.
Budding engineers of any species will agree that Oona has well earned the right to feel “just as big as a duck should feel.” (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-15179-0395-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Univ. of Minnesota
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Friendships can be tricky to navigate, but if youngsters find half of the joy and loyalty of this pair, they’ll be set.
Winsome duo Bink and Gollie are back, this time zipping through a day at the state fair (Bink & Gollie, 2010).
Messy-mopped Bink goes immediately to the Whack-a-Duck game. After all, the prize is the world’s largest donut. In a brilliant spread that shows every step of her comical windup, Bink’s pitch explodes with energy. She is endearingly hopeful, but … not exactly on target. The next chapter is Gollie’s turn to shine. She enters the talent show with stars in her eyes. But when she opens her mouth on stage, nothing comes out—though her expressions are priceless. Luckily there is a much more forgiving audience right around the corner. The last story showcases Bink and Gollie together. Madame Prunely tells them their fortune. (“Destiny?” asks Bink. “Is it a ride?” / “In a manner of speaking,” replies Gollie.) However, these two best friends don’t need to hear much about their future. They have each other and that’s all that matters. It’s difficult to match the exuberance of first meeting (or reading) this winning pair, but Bink and Gollie’s second adventure won’t disappoint. Utterly chuckle-worthy, charming and (thank goodness) still refreshing.
Friendships can be tricky to navigate, but if youngsters find half of the joy and loyalty of this pair, they’ll be set. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: June 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3361-5
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
A late bloomer the size of a mosquito but with a personality as big as all outdoors wings across the pond from Australia to explain how life surrounded by much larger sibs goes from being “no skip in the bush” to "fluttering skippity" thanks to the discovery of an outsize singing voice. The notably colloquial text (“My arrival was a real gobdropper. ‘Stone the blowies! What is it?’ ”) skitters through major changes in size and type style as Peka-Boo carries his (or maybe her) account from laborious hatching to a triumphant sonic epiphany. This, represented in Feely’s wildly scribbled illustrations with huge bursts and curls of color, is realized in a last-ditch effort to attract the attention of old Kapecki, a near–blind-and-deaf kookaburra. Kapecki’s observation that “you can’t make worm pie from a stack of bracken” may leave readers on this side of the lake scratching their heads, but Peka-Boo’s exuberance is as catching as that of the sibling-under-the-skin narrator in Kevin Sherry’s I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean! (2007). (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-74175-541-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2010
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