This Step into Reading title is a crazed, out-of-breath, fly-on-the-wall peek at picture-day morning at the Shampoodle salon for dogs. Four stylists are simply no match for seven rambunctious dogs. Add in the distraction of three cats, and chaos ensues. Snappy rhyming verses lead children through the fiasco to the hysterical hairstyles that are the result (all, oddly enough, look remarkably like the stylists that crafted them): “New hair. Blue hair. / Beads with knots. / Purple hair with polka dots. / Spiked hair. Mohawk. / Striped like skunk. / Glitter critter. / Super funk.” Short sentences, easy vocabulary and a large font fit the Step 2 level. Bowers’s characters all have wonderful personality, especially the pooches. Beginning readers will have to stop laughing at the pictures before they will be able to read the text. Very funny—there may be a short film in this somewhere. (Early reader. 4-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-375-85576-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too many bugs, figuratively.
Lucy, “the youngest member of a family of fireflies,” must overcome an irrational, moon-induced anxiety in order to leave her family tree trunk and glow.
The first six pages pull readers into a lush, beautiful world of nighttime: “When the sun has set, silence falls over the Big Forest, and all of the nighttime animals wake up.” Mixed media provide an enchanting forest background, with stylized flora and fauna eventually illuminated by a large, benign moon, because the night “doesn’t like to catch them by surprise.” Turning the page catches readers by surprise, though: the family of fireflies is decidedly comical and silly-looking. Similarly, the text moves from a lulling, magical cadence to a distinct shift in mood as the bugs ready themselves for their foray into the night: “They wave their bottoms in the air, wiggle their feelers, take a deep, deep breath, and sing, ‘Here we go, it’s time to glow!’ ” It’s an acceptable change, but more unevenness follows. Lucy’s excitement about finally joining the other bugs turns to “sobbing” two nights in a row. Instead of directly linking her behavior to understandable reactions of children to newness, the text undermines itself by making Lucy’s parents’ sweet reassurances impotent and using the grandmother’s scientific explanation of moonlight as an unnecessary metaphor. Further detracting from the story, the text becomes ever denser and more complex over the book’s short span.
Too many bugs, figuratively. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-84-16147-00-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
A laugh-out-loud tale that also fosters respect for nature.
Bird gives Squirrel a lesson in spring and the flowers that come with it.
Everyone’s favorite overly possessive squirrel, introduced in The Leaf Thief (2021), returns for a new seasonal tale. Happy to see the leaves back on their tree, Squirrel is surprised by odd sounds. Then a strange bird flies at Squirrel’s head. Squirrel runs to their friend Bird, who has all the answers: Those noises were a cuckoo’s call and a bumblebee, and the bird was a swallow—all are signs of spring. The duo discover a tiny yellow flower, which Bird says is another sign of spring. Squirrel asserts possession (of course) and proceeds to try to protect it. Squirrel wants to keep it from getting wet, but Bird explains the flower needs the rain. Squirrel tries to safeguard the flower from the bees until Bird says that bees help flowers. After Squirrel’s attempt to keep the flower safe under a bucket nearly kills it, Bird persuades Squirrel to leave the flower be…and the next morning, they wake to a wonderful surprise. Hemming’s naïve squirrel and sage bird team up again for a giggle-inducing lesson about the natural world, brought to life by Slater’s energetic, bright, digitally created art, featuring endearing, big-eyed characters. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A laugh-out-loud tale that also fosters respect for nature. (flower facts) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-72827-136-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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