Sure to inspire some new ninja bunnies.
A primer on how to be a ninja, especially if you are a bunny.
This rabbit has a goal and so consults a book entitled How to Be a Super Awesome Ninja. In a blue, full-body ninja suit with mask, the bunny demonstrates each rule. “A super awesome ninja must always work alone,” says Rule 1, so the blue-clad rabbit deserts the other bunnies, who quirk eyebrows in a great range of emotion from skeptical and annoyed to concerned and sad. Pictures show the difference between each rule on paper and the rabbit’s success. There might have been “super sneaky” success in a nighttime carrot garden but for the danger of a waiting rake. A ninja must “achieve invisibility,” but the bunny ears sticking out of that bush are pretty identifiable. Pinned upside down to a branch, balancing on one foot at the top of a pointy pine, or plunging through the air—rather, “master[ing] the ability to fly”—this child-shaped bunny is hilarious. Olson’s ink-and-watercolor illustrations make dramatic use of scale, white space, and the contrast between curved lines and straight, blocky lines. When an enormous enemy shows up and forces a re-evaluation of Rule 1, the suspense is simultaneously real and funny, and the bear’s sudden change in scale reveals the power of a group working together.
Sure to inspire some new ninja bunnies. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-75493-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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