by Johanna Wright ; illustrated by Johanna Wright ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 8, 2013
Bursting with confidence, a young skater describes what it takes to be a champion (at least in her own mind) in this wobbly but amusing manifesto.
First, of course, there’s the waiting for spring, summer and fall to pass. Once the pond freezes, it’s time to whirl, twirl, spin (and take a few falls, but never mind) before an admiring crowd of birds and family members. Afterward, champions will also need hot chocolate, a hot bath and, at bedtime, warm blankets to snuggle beneath. Hurried along by a narrative that often runs to just a line or a few words per spread, the illustrations portray a rabbit family tending a garden, paddling lazily in the pond or gathering in a cozy tree-trunk home through the seasons. They then watch anxiously from the snowy sideline as their “champion” resolutely weaves, glides and crashes on the ice. Along with leaving her brushwork visible on heavily textured canvas, Wright uses a palette of harmonious pinks and browns to imbue each scene with an air of comfy domesticity. The rabbits, however, all look so alike that it’s often hard to pick out the narrator, and though the narrator is addressing readers or listeners, neither she nor anyone else ever looks up from their activities to make eye contact. A healthy if impersonal dose of self-affirmation delivered by a cast with long, fetching bunny ears. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-59643-404-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: Dec. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2012
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by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2010
Hee haw.
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The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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by Tedd Arnold ; illustrated by Tedd Arnold ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2013
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity.
Buzz and his buzzy buddy open a spinoff series of nonfiction early readers with an aquarium visit.
Buzz: “Like other fish, sharks breathe through gills.” Fly Guy: “GILLZZ.” Thus do the two pop-eyed cartoon tour guides squire readers past a plethora of cramped but carefully labeled color photos depicting dozens of kinds of sharks in watery settings, along with close-ups of skin, teeth and other anatomical features. In the bite-sized blocks of narrative text, challenging vocabulary words like “carnivores” and “luminescence” come with pronunciation guides and lucid in-context definitions. Despite all the flashes of dentifrice and references to prey and smelling blood in the water, there is no actual gore or chowing down on display. Sharks are “so cool!” proclaims Buzz at last, striding out of the gift shop. “I can’t wait for our next field trip!” (That will be Fly Guy Presents: Space, scheduled for September 2013.)
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity. (Informational easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-50771-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
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