Best read for its informational content.
Freddy the Frogcaster learns about tornadoes.
Aspiring meteorologist Freddy has been practicing his weather forecasting. Every weekend he visits Frog News Network to rehearse in front of the cameras. When his weather models predict strong storms, he lets Sally Croaker and Polly Woggins, frogcasters who work for FNN, know what is coming. With the possibility of tornadoes in the near future for the town of Lilypad, Tad Polar, famous storm chaser, comes to town—and he takes Freddy with him in his specially equipped storm-chasing van. They see a tornado and let the local news teams know. The storm is scary, and it does some damage, but everyone survives thanks to Freddy and Tad. Dean’s fourth Freddy the Frogcaster title packs a lot of information on tornado formation and tornado safety into a thin story. The clear, simple language of the story and the seven pages of illustrated aftermatter make this a worthy addition to larger library collections. With Cox’s bright, expressive illustrations of bug-eyed, gape-mouthed frogs, it may even allay some storm fears.
Best read for its informational content. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62157-469-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Regnery Kids
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of...
An international story tackles a serious global issue with Reynolds’ characteristic visual whimsy.
Gie Gie—aka Princess Gie Gie—lives with her parents in Burkina Faso. In her kingdom under “the African sky, so wild and so close,” she can tame wild dogs with her song and make grass sway, but despite grand attempts, she can neither bring the water closer to home nor make it clean. French words such as “maintenant!” (now!) and “maman” (mother) and local color like the karite tree and shea nuts place the story in a French-speaking African country. Every morning, Gie Gie and her mother perch rings of cloth and large clay pots on their heads and walk miles to the nearest well to fetch murky, brown water. The story is inspired by model Georgie Badiel, who founded the Georgie Badiel Foundation to make clean water accessible to West Africans. The details in Reynolds’ expressive illustrations highlight the beauty of the West African landscape and of Princess Gie Gie, with her cornrowed and beaded hair, but will also help readers understand that everyone needs clean water—from the children of Burkina Faso to the children of Flint, Michigan.
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of potable water. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17258-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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
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BOOK REVIEW
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