The invitation reads, “Can’t you come out tonight and dance by the light of the moon?” Buffalo Flo, in her elegant bow, rounds up the other farm gal invitees, Gertie May Goose, Cassie Sue Cat and Patty Ann Pig, for the “surprise” event. They arrive all gussied up only to find that the men folk are late for their toe-tapping date. Surprise! It’s Farmer Snow’s barnyard party thanking the animals for all they do. Ryder literally takes the chorus of “Buffalo Gals” and spins off an amusing rhyming tale. The cartoon illustrations playfully depict the gals and guys “puttin’ on the ritz” with visual puns and clever accents, e.g. the magazine on Patty Ann Pig’s couch is In Sty. Adults may notice some missteps in the rhymes and a puzzling reference in the blurb to Farmer Snow’s “annual” party that seems inconsistent with the surprise buildup, but kids will enjoy the story as another silly farm-animal book, without knowing the song or its origin. Overall, the conceit is clever even though it stumbles a bit. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-7868-1820-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Should be packaged with an oxygen supply, as it will incontestably elicit uncontrollable gales of giggles.
Even more alliterative hanky-panky from the creators of The Wonky Donkey (2010).
Operating on the principle (valid, here) that anything worth doing is worth overdoing, Smith and Cowley give their wildly popular Wonky Donkey a daughter—who, being “cute and small,” was a “dinky donkey”; having “beautiful long eyelashes” she was in consequence a “blinky dinky donkey”; and so on…and on…and on until the cumulative chorus sails past silly and ludicrous to irresistibly hysterical: “She was a stinky funky plinky-plonky winky-tinky,” etc. The repeating “Hee Haw!” chorus hardly suggests what any audience’s escalating response will be. In the illustrations the daughter sports her parent’s big, shiny eyes and winsome grin while posing in a multicolored mohawk next to a rustic boombox (“She was a punky blinky”), painting her hooves pink, crossing her rear legs to signal a need to pee (“winky-tinky inky-pinky”), demonstrating her smelliness with the help of a histrionic hummingbird, and finally cozying up to her proud, evidently single parent (there’s no sign of another) for a closing cuddle.
Should be packaged with an oxygen supply, as it will incontestably elicit uncontrollable gales of giggles. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-60083-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The happy and positive message that not all new beginnings are to be feared is a welcome one.
When Miguel leaves the island of Puerto Rico for the mainland U.S., he worries about all the things he’ll miss—most of all, his pet frog, Coquí.
In San Juan, Miguel takes Coquí everywhere: to play baseball with his friends, to visit the pond in the park, to buy his favorite snack at the bakery, or to visit his abuelos. But when his parents tell him they are moving to the mainland, he worries. Won’t he miss Coquí, flying kites, his grandparents, and taking part in Christmas festivities? In New York, Miguel and his mother explore a neighborhood “full of interesting sights, sounds, and people.” And though Spanish words are around them, so too are other unfamiliar languages. Soon they discover a pond with frogs, a food cart selling empanadillas, a baseball field, and a bakery that sells his favorite snack. As Miguel drifts off to sleep he realizes Puerto Rico will always be with him, in his heart—and though some things in New York are different, some are the same. Perez’s illustrations depict a multiethnic, multicultural New York that is just as colorful, vibrant, and upbeat as the city back home. Miguel and his family have light brown skin and dark hair. A Spanish version, De aquí como el coquí, publishes simultaneously, ably translated by Farah Perez.
The happy and positive message that not all new beginnings are to be feared is a welcome one. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-10903-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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