Readers who can get over the story’s peculiar device will find a fine tale about the importance of keeping secrets and the...
Who or what is eating the best fruits in Jasmine’s garden?
The whole village knows Jasmine grows the best fruit—apples, cherries, kumquats, mangoes, papayas, and more—but every morning she awakens to find the nicest fruits nibbled. She hides one night and sees an elephant fall from the sky to crash in her garden and start eating her fruit. She tells him to stop, and he apologizes. In an abrupt transition, she grabs his tail, and they sail into the night sky into his garden, where the fruits are huge…but made of precious gems and thus not good to eat. He gives Jasmine a giant ruby strawberry. When she gets home, she tells her family of her adventure. Naturally, they all want to see the garden. She agrees and swears them to secrecy…but her little brother tells his friend, and soon the whole village knows. When the elephant falls that night, they all latch onto his tail in a chain—but alas, their impatience ends with everyone falling back to Earth. At least they still get to eat Jasmine’s fruit, while the elephant evidently moves on to quieter gardens. British author/illustrator Ray’s original tale seems to be set in South Asia. Her bright and vibrant illustrations feature brown-skinned people in saris and turbans and a brilliantly painted elephant; they swoop across the page and transport readers as would, say, a flying elephant.
Readers who can get over the story’s peculiar device will find a fine tale about the importance of keeping secrets and the dangers of greed. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-910716-22-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boxer Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Hee haw.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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