Minimalist silliness that may be more art than substance.
This book might as well be titled How Not to Draw a Chicken.
The cover, which substitutes “a Chicken” for a crossed-out “Animals,” gives fair warning of the strangeness inside. Beginning like a traditional how-to book, the handwritten instructions become increasingly bizarre—almost absent-minded. In a series of line drawings, a beak is drawn and joined to a pair of legs, but the body is forgotten; the beak-on-legs creation then runs away while the rest of the chicken body is drawn. The body, neck and wings are completed in a haphazard fashion, and although the beak on legs returns, it is never joined to the rest of the body. Another chicken (a whole one) runs up to observe, even as the narrative instructs readers to draw an egg and add eyes and legs to it. Finally, after a few false starts, a “cockerel” (this is a British import) is drawn correctly. The attractive, square, flip-book format belies the surreal execution of the concept, but it’s possible to see how the deliberately incompetent drawings might inspire creative children to use the elements—beak, legs, feet, wings, eyes, cockerel’s crest (“it’s a bit like a floppy crown or a glove with six fingers”)—to create their own silly animals.
Minimalist silliness that may be more art than substance. (Picture book. 5-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-84976-068-3
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Tate/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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