by Jim Stoten ; illustrated by Jim Stoten ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014
While less intricate than the scenes in Martin Handford’s Where’s Waldo series, these hilarious, community-spirited...
A dapper gent on his daily walk discovers that helping community members find lost items bears its own rewards.
Mr Tweed (this import retains its British spelling), a mustachioed dog in pinstripe trousers and a stovepipe hat half his height, successively assists citizens of many species looking for a lost kite in the park, two kittens in a garden, three pet mice at the library and more. For each good deed, there’s a double-page spread that frames the problem, depicts the lost items and cheerfully enlists readers to turn the page and aid the search. Those ensuing page turns yield teeming tableaux chock-a-block with lush scenery and wacky details in opaque carnival hues of orange, blue, purple and green. The town pool, harboring professor Ribbet’s four escaped goldfish, roils with inflatable toys and swimmers from ducks to rabbits (with humans a represented minority). Penultimately, Mr Tweed helps find Pingle Penguin’s nine balloons, released mistakenly at the town fair. Ready to head home, he’s invited by Pete Weasel to “a huge street party” where all the folks he’s helped are waiting to fête him with 10 presents (strewn throughout the scene, of course). Stoten’s whimsical, stylized pictures recall erstwhile graphic design influencers Seymour Chwast and Peter Max.
While less intricate than the scenes in Martin Handford’s Where’s Waldo series, these hilarious, community-spirited panoramas will reward repeat scrutiny. Great fun. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-909263-35-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
by Jim Stoten ; illustrated by Jim Stoten
More by Jim Stoten
BOOK REVIEW
by Jim Stoten ; illustrated by Jim Stoten
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 2023
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
Share your opinion of this book
More by Drew Daywalt
BOOK REVIEW
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Alex Willmore
BOOK REVIEW
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
BOOK REVIEW
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
Share your opinion of this book
More by Jimmy Fallon
BOOK REVIEW
by Jimmy Fallon & Jennifer Lopez ; illustrated by Andrea Campos
More About This Book
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.