A tale that whips up plenty of fun.
Actor Aniston’s canine chef realizes that the kitchen is the perfect place for friendship to flourish.
Clydeo is excited to see that the new (feline) family next door includes a youngster his own age. But how can he make friends with the newcomer? Dad suggests that they play together. Clydeo imagines playing a game of baseball—but in his fantasy, the ball breaks a window. How about digging holes? No, that would lead to getting dirty…and, worse, bathtime. Mom says that “the recipe for friendship” is sharing a favorite activity. Fortunately, both Clydeo and the new kid, Max, love to cook, and though they make a big mess, they have a great time. The kids use the oven solo (Clydeo’s parents are close by in the next room) and pull out some fragrant muffins in a suddenly cleaned-up kitchen. They make more, enough for the whole neighborhood, promise to do it again soon, and then play ball, too. There’s a lack of tension here; nothing impedes or complicates the swift achievement of friendship. The obstacles that Clydeo imagines are all external; the actual risks of communicating or trying for a connection are never explored. Still, the anthropomorphized pup and kitten are cute, the storytelling is peppy, and Clydeo’s many fans will be pleased to see him cooking yet again. Emerging readers might need help with some words (together, thought, friendship).
A tale that whips up plenty of fun. (Early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: June 23, 2026
ISBN: 9780063372443
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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