Uninspiring.
Vivid illustrations accompany short poems about different insects and other garden critters.
The disconnect between the book’s title and its more-specific subject is the first in a series of figurative and literal bugs. Each poem has a large, one-creature title, starting with “Spider.” All illustrations have pretty background flora in a pleasing spectrum of pastels. In general, the layout and text are kid-friendly in terms of limited vocabulary and spare presentation. However, both art and text veer into many confusing directions. Occasionally, a poetic device works—as with a dragonfly that’s compared to “a little helicopter.” More often, apparent attempts at whimsy fail—once due to a mismatch between text that bemoans a centipede’s unshod state and art that depicts its many feet in shoes—usually due to overreach into absurdity or non sequitur, possibly due to clumsy translation (which is uncredited). For example, glowworms glow because “While reaping wheat last night, / A patterned handkerchief was lost.” Both art and text become grotesque when a cartoon simian breaks the legs of a mosquito (incorrectly gendered male). The mood is equally sinister when a moth begins to drown and cries to Auntie for help. (No help arrives.) The final—and longest—piece is a morality tale about a butterfly’s hauteur, which is best understood by readers who recall the first poem. Butterfly’s plight is not for the faint of heart. Carol Murray’s Cricket in the Thicket (2017) is better encouragement for larval-stage poet-entomologists. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22.8-inch double-page spreads viewed at 89.7% of actual size.)
Uninspiring. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4788-6854-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Reycraft Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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