Delightful, surprising, and all in good fun.
What is Fox planning?
Fox is carefully monitoring eight little chicks. “Fox is coming! / Hide away.” And off they go. Before setting off after them, the sly fox ties a kerchief onto a stick, perhaps to hold captured chicks. Trying to outwit the fox, the chicks run and flap throughout the farm, hiding in any place that might provide safety, or at least a temporary respite: maybe nestled among the large tree roots, in a hollow log, in the tin cans strewn around a foraging goat, or even among pigs in a muddy hole. All the while, the other farm animals look on benignly. But wherever the chicks run, the fox is not far behind, eagerly grabbing one or two of them at a time and placing them in that kerchief. Told in simple rhyming couplets, the tale will have youngsters following along with breathless anticipation as the desperate chicks careen around the farm in very bright, colorful, sharply defined illustrations, sometimes in wide angle, sometimes close up. The overall-clad fox’s expressions are by turns thoughtful, intense, and triumphant but never overtly menacing. When all the chicks are in the bag, the story comes to an unexpected, reassuring twist. The book is essentially a reworking of Kulka’s earlier work, Wolf’s Coming (2007), with co-author Patterson joining in as part of his recent series of collaborations.
Delightful, surprising, and all in good fun. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316572835
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
The runaway cookie in this Mexican bakery is a soft, brown, stubby-tailed piglet as impertinently bold and smug in his continual escape as his Gingerbread Boy cousin. “Chase me! Chase me down the street. But this is one piggy you won’t get to eat! / ¡Córrele, córrele! ¡Y Córrele más! ¡Soy el cochinito que jamás comerás!” This bouncy dual refrain extends the familiar cumulative text, rendered in both English and Spanish, as piggy manages to elude Marta the baker, Lorenzo the mechanic, Mamá Nita the beautician, Joaquín the telephone repairman and a host of other neighborhood adults—until he is outsmarted by Rosa, a little girl on her way to school, who foxily “helps him” cross the street. Safely tucked into her backpack, piggy is both a welcome surprise and an excuse for Rosa’s lateness to class. Deep opaque acrylic paintings of a colorful barrio and its residents in pursuit add the right amount of cultural flavor to this vivid Latino retelling. Recipe appended. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55885-586-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
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