Doesn’t rise to the top of the school-and-friendship barrel.
It’s the first day of school, and cat Peachy is finally old enough to join Happy Tails School’s student newspaper.
When Peachy finds out the paper has been shuttered, she’s devastated. How will she fulfill her dream of being a star reporter? Principal Trunx, an elephant (obviously), tells her no one reads the paper anymore; they’re focused on their phones (Chimpstagram is quite popular). Peachy comes up with a brilliant idea: she’ll start a digital magazine her classmates can read on their (bizarrely named) PinePhones. However, there’s a caveat—school rules require all clubs to have at least six members. So far, it’s just Peachy and her best friend fur-ever, Keen, a perpetually hungry pup who’s fond of wearing costumes to school, so the two set out to recruit members for Purrfect9. To Peachy’s dismay, Keen makes false promises—free gold and red-carpet access—to gain members, but fortunately, their recruits stick around. It looks like Peachy’s dream is coming true, but when Keen publishes a cartoon that perfectionist Peachy didn’t approve, their friendship—and Purrfect9’s fate—is put to the test. Puns, irony, and wordplay make up much of the third-person narration; the full-color spot art is Saturday morning cartoon–cute. The plot and concepts feel very middle school, at odds with the low page count and young look.
Doesn’t rise to the top of the school-and-friendship barrel. (Fiction. 5-9)Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-11043-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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