by Jennifer Frank ; illustrated by David Ezra Stein ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 11, 2021
Sure to worm its way into readers’ hearts.
A warm, witty, wonderful worm tale.
When Mrs. Worm has the bright idea of taking a family portrait, her eldest daughter, Emma, is very excited. That feeling fades, however, when Emma worries that their picture won’t be special like those of her friends’ families. They can’t smile like the beavers since they don’t have teeth. They can’t style their hair to be fluffy like a cat’s since they don’t have hair. They can’t be colorful like a family of butterflies. Or can they? Emma comes up with a plan to deck her family out in wigs, clothes, and fake teeth, but then they just don’t look like themselves—as the muskrat photographer comically points out when he doesn’t even recognize them. Throughout, Stein’s expressive, sly, wobbly-lined art enhances the humor of Frank’s text with details that will delight readers, such as the worms’ use of piles of earth to blanket them as they sleep upon rooted carrots in their underground home or the worm parents’ use of a simple sling to carry the baby of the family. When the worm family sheds itself of Emma’s costuming, they come up with an ingenious plan to get “into a delightful pose only a worm family could make,” the illustration of which will surely bring smiles to readers’ faces. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 21.4% of actual size.)
Sure to worm its way into readers’ hearts. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12478-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Anne Schwartz/Random
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
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by Tom Percival ; illustrated by Tom Percival ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2019
A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their...
Ruby is an adventurous and happy child until the day she discovers a Worry.
Ruby barely sees the Worry—depicted as a blob of yellow with a frowny unibrow—at first, but as it hovers, the more she notices it and the larger it grows. The longer Ruby is affected by this Worry, the fewer colors appear on the page. Though she tries not to pay attention to the Worry, which no one else can see, ignoring it prevents her from enjoying the things that she once loved. Her constant anxiety about the Worry causes the bright yellow blob to crowd Ruby’s everyday life, which by this point is nearly all washes of gray and white. But at the playground, Ruby sees a boy sitting on a bench with a growing sky-blue Worry of his own. When she invites the boy to talk, his Worry begins to shrink—and when Ruby talks about her own Worry, it also grows smaller. By the book’s conclusion, Ruby learns to control her Worry by talking about what worries her, a priceless lesson for any child—or adult—conveyed in a beautifully child-friendly manner. Ruby presents black, with hair in cornrows and two big afro-puff pigtails, while the boy has pale skin and spiky black hair.
A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their feelings (. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0237-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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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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