Pass.
A mosquito doesn’t stand a chance against a ninja.
While clearly intended as a humorous text about a pesky mosquito and a pint-sized “ninja,” the depiction of the latter brings up troublesome characterization matters. The opening text declares that “mosquitoes bite all kinds of people,” and the cartoon-style art (reminiscent of Kate Beaton’s work) provides an aerial view of the insect zooming toward a diverse community. The ninja is depicted apart from this community, is assigned no pronouns, and is always clad in black clothing that leaves only eyes visible. The ninja’s skin is light brown—a darker shade than some people in the earlier depicted characters and lighter than others—and the ninja is described as “sneakier” and “quicker” than the mosquito. In the picture depicting quickness, the ninja sits cross-legged on the ground and, with narrowed eyes glancing to the side, grabs the mosquito in midair with twigs held like chopsticks. Combined, these cues reinforce Asian stereotypes. The child-sized ninja doesn’t appear to be playing pretend, nor to belong to a family, but is joined by a “baby ninja” who wears colorful clothes and a ninja mask. The story’s resolution arrives when, instead of being bitten, the ninja bites (and evidently swallows) the mosquito when it gets stuck in a jam sandwich, delivering a bizarre end to the fraught tale.
Pass. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68119-215-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
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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