by Jill Newton & illustrated by Jill Newton ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2010
This book, told with a sure storyteller’s voice, will be a crowd pleaser. On the very first page, it is obvious that red-bearded Farmer Gruff needs more sleep. Day and night, he must chase away the crows that are eating all his corn. As the Farmer sleeps in exhaustion, all the little animals on the farm quietly tiptoe through the day, until… With a crash of color and text that yells, Donkey barrels over the hill in full bray, banging on a bass drum. All the other animals rush to quiet the noisy donkey, who blasts trumpets, twangs guitars and plunks on keyboards, all with onomatopoeic textual accompaniment that begs audience participation. Being a groovy and obedient Donkey, the noisemaker sadly secludes himself in a faraway barn. Even from there, though, Donkey’s cacophony scares away the crows, a surprising solution that illustrates there is a time and a place for everything. Newton captures the boisterous fun without tipping over the edge into wildness—just right for a young audience. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1330-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Dec. 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2010
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by William Miller & illustrated by Rodney Pate ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2004
One of the watershed moments in African-American history—the defeat of James Braddock at the hands of Joe Louis—is here given an earnest picture-book treatment. Despite his lack of athletic ability, Sammy wants desperately to be a great boxer, like his hero, getting boxing lessons from his friend Ernie in exchange for help with schoolwork. However hard he tries, though, Sammy just can’t box, and his father comforts him, reminding him that he doesn’t need to box: Joe Louis has shown him that he “can be the champion at anything [he] want[s].” The high point of this offering is the big fight itself, everyone crowded around the radio in Mister Jake’s general store, the imagined fight scenes played out in soft-edged sepia frames. The main story, however, is so bent on providing Sammy and the reader with object lessons that all subtlety is lost, as Mister Jake, Sammy’s father, and even Ernie hammer home the message. Both text and oil-on-canvas-paper illustrations go for the obvious angle, making the effort as a whole worthy, but just a little too heavy-handed. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-58430-161-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
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by Doreen Cronin & illustrated by Harry Bliss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2005
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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