Suddenly seeing the shark’s “big grin” may prompt easily startled children to join the final scene’s diverse array of marine...
Smiling sea creatures hiding behind big flaps pop up to play in this gallery for “Little Snappers.”
Intentionally or not, there’s a disparity between the overall tone and the likely audience reaction. Each of the five double-page spreads features a vague clue/question on one side and an almost full-page–sized flap on the opposite that, when lifted, elevates a very simple cartoon rendering of an animal: “Which snippy-snappy animal has seen a shell to grab?” / “Scuttling sideways on the sand, it’s smiley, happy Crab!” (Said crab is in the process of gaily snipping a seashell, and perhaps its unseen resident, in half.) Similarly, a creature opaquely endowed with a “patterned shell” turns out to be a turtle. For a rather disingenuous finale, raising the flap to discover the identity of a “splashy friend with pointy fins” who “wants everyone to play” shoots a toothy shark up toward viewers. Shades of Lewis Carroll’s “How Doth the Little Crocodile.”
Suddenly seeing the shark’s “big grin” may prompt easily startled children to join the final scene’s diverse array of marine life in beating a hasty retreat. The first time through, at least. (Pop-up picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58925-259-2
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
This is a tremendously moving story, but some people will be moved only on the second reading, after they’ve Googled “How to...
A hug shouldn’t require an instruction manual—but some do.
A porcupine can frighten even the largest animal. In this picture book, a bear and a deer, along with a small rabbit, each run away when they hear eight simple words and their name: “I need a hug. Will you cuddle me,…?” As they flee, each utters a definitive refusal that rhymes with their name. The repetitive structure gives Blabey plenty of opportunities for humor, because every animal responds to the question with an outlandish, pop-eyed expression of panic. But the understated moments are even funnier. Each animal takes a moment to think over the request, and the drawings are nuanced enough that readers can see the creatures react with slowly building anxiety or, sometimes, a glassy stare. These silent reaction shots not only show exquisite comic timing, but they make the rhymes in the text feel pleasingly subtle by delaying the final line in each stanza. The story is a sort of fable about tolerance. It turns out that a porcupine can give a perfectly adequate hug when its quills are flat and relaxed, but no one stays around long enough to find out except for an animal that has its own experiences with intolerance: a snake. It’s an apt, touching moral, but the climax may confuse some readers as they try to figure out the precise mechanics of the embrace.
This is a tremendously moving story, but some people will be moved only on the second reading, after they’ve Googled “How to pet a porcupine.” (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Jan. 29, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-29710-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
Watching unlikely friends finally be as “happy as two someones can be” feels like being enveloped in your very own hug.
What to do when you’re a prickly animal hankering for a hug? Why, find another misfit animal also searching for an embrace!
Sweet but “tricky to hug” little Hedgehog is down in the dumps. Wandering the forest, Hedgehog begs different animals for hugs, but each rejects them. Readers will giggle at their panicked excuses—an evasive squirrel must suddenly count its three measly acorns; a magpie begins a drawn-out song—but will also be indignant on poor hedgehog’s behalf. Hedgehog has the appealingly pink-cheeked softness typical of Dunbar’s art, and the gentle watercolors are nonthreatening, though she also captures the animals’ genuine concern about being poked. A wise owl counsels the dejected hedgehog that while the prickles may frighten some, “there’s someone for everyone.” That’s when Hedgehog spots a similarly lonely tortoise, rejected due to its “very hard” shell but perfectly matched for a spiky new friend. They race toward each other until the glorious meeting, marked with swoony peach swirls and overjoyed grins. At this point, readers flip the book to hear the same gloomy tale from the tortoise’s perspective until it again culminates in that joyous hug, a book turn that’s made a pleasure with thick creamy paper and solid binding.
Watching unlikely friends finally be as “happy as two someones can be” feels like being enveloped in your very own hug. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-571-34875-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
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