by Janet Kennedy Kiefer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 28, 2020
A sweet, conversational introduction to service dogs that’s hampered by repetitive graphics and awkward text design.
A grandmother explains the important role that her dog plays in her life in this illustrated children’s book.
Georgi, Violet, and Luella want to know more about their grandmother Nana Jan’s dog, Dominique. The older woman calls the canine a “service dog,” which she defines “a dog that is trained to help a person who has challenges.” She then shares the ways in which her Shih Tzu is a help not only to her, but to other people with whom they interact. As the grandkids ask additional questions, the story describes, in accessible vocabulary, the many roles of the dog. Nana Jan experiences pain and has trouble walking, and Dominique’s stroller works like a walker, allowing the grandmother to get around normally; the joy that Dominique brings Nana Jan helps her forget about her pain, and the dog’s cuddles help her rest. Dominique also works at a hospital, bringing comfort to sick children and pregnant women on bedrest. Dominique’s attendance at yoga classes at the YMCA brings happiness to Nana Jan’s classmates. As in Mud Pies (2015), Kiefer shows the comfortable relationship between a grandmother and her grandkids in this work. However, the book doesn’t address any special training that the dog has received, which is what differentiates service dogs from emotional-support animals. Nan Jan’s explanations of why she needs the dog, however, effectively normalize the experience of chronic pain for young readers. The uncredited illustrations don’t always match the text—the dog seems a bit more like a mutt than a Shih Tzu, and two illustrations appear to depict four grandchildren instead of the three named. The full-color cartoon images are full of joy, which fits the text’s mood. However, the book distractingly repeats some drawings on multiple pages; an image of a running dog on the title page, for example, appears four more times later on. The typefaces, in multiple sizes and colors, may be hard on young eyes, although Kiefer’s word choices and glossary are appropriate for beginning readers. Additional activities encourage children to conduct their own research about service dogs, with parental guidance.
A sweet, conversational introduction to service dogs that’s hampered by repetitive graphics and awkward text design.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5255-5399-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Karma Wilson ; illustrated by Jane Chapman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2024
Cheery fun that will leave series fans “egg”-static.
In his latest outing, Bear and his pals go in search of eggs.
Bear “lumbers with his friends through the Strawberry Vale.” Raven finds a nest; climbing up, “The bear finds eggs!”: a refrain that appears throughout. Instead of eating the robin’s eggs, however, Bear leaves a gift of dried berries in the nest for the “soon-to-be-chicks.” Next, the friends find 10 mallard eggs (as bright blue as the robin’s), and Bear leaves sunflower seeds. Then the wail of Mama Meadowlark, whose bright yellow undercarriage strikes a warm golden note, leads them to promise to find her lost eggs. With his friends’ assistance, Bear finds one, and they decide to paint them “so they aren’t lost again.” Another is discovered, painted, and placed in Hare’s basket. After hours of persistent searching, Bear suddenly spots the remaining two eggs “in a small patch of clover.” Before they can return these eggs, the chicks hatch and rejoin their mother. Back at his lair, Bear, with his troupe, is visited by all 17 chicks and the robin, mallard, and meadowlark moms: “And the bear finds friends!” Though this sweet spring tale centers on finding and painting eggs, it makes no overt references to Easter. The soft green and blue acrylics, predictable rhymes, and rolling rhythm make this series installment another low-key natural read-aloud.
Cheery fun that will leave series fans “egg”-static. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781665936552
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2010
Hee haw.
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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
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