by Jory John ; illustrated by Lane Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 27, 2016
Well-paced, bursting with humor, and charmingly misanthropic.
Being a penguin isn’t all it’s cracked up to be in John and Smith’s debut collaboration.
A small penguin sleeping on a snow mound reluctantly wakes up, instantly exasperated with everything. Bemoaning the cold, the snow, and other things readers might take for granted as penguin pleasures, the protagonist heads off to begin a day full of one downer after another. The fish the penguin would like to eat for breakfast are disobliging about being caught; the ocean is too salty and cold, and it is inconveniently full of predators; and even the smallest things about being a penguin (waddling, flightlessness, and looking exactly like everyone else) are intolerably irritating. Increasingly outraged by a litany of injustices worthy of Judith Viorst’s classic grump Alexander, the penguin is offered a more balanced if somewhat lofty perspective by a walrus who suggests that, difficulties notwithstanding, the penguin is surrounded by beauty and love. Smith’s singular visual characterization follows through on John’s ironic humor throughout the narrative, and though both the visual and textual fall momentarily and appropriately flat when the walrus’ speech takes over an entire page, the penguin, who concedes the walrus’ point, nevertheless gets the last word in an admirable and important validation of personal feelings, grumbles and all.
Well-paced, bursting with humor, and charmingly misanthropic. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-51337-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
by Pip Jones ; illustrated by Sara Ogilvie ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2020
A disappointing follow-up.
Inventor Izzy Gizmo is back in this sequel to her eponymous debut (2017).
While busily inventing one day, Izzy receives an invitation from the Genius Guild to their annual convention. Though Izzy’s “inventions…don’t always work,” Grandpa (apparently her sole caregiver) encourages her to go. The next day they undertake a long journey “over fields, hills, and waves” and “mile after mile” to isolated Technoff Isle. There, Izzy finds she must compete against four other kids to create the most impressive machine. The colorful, detail-rich illustrations chronicle how poor Izzy is thwarted at every turn by Abi von Lavish, a Veruca Salt–esque character who takes all the supplies for herself. But when Abi abandons her project, Izzy salvages the pieces and decides to take Grandpa’s advice to create a machine that “can really be put to good use.” A frustrated Izzy’s impatience with a friend almost foils her chance at the prize, but all’s well that ends well. There’s much to like: Brown-skinned inventor girl Izzy is an appealing character, it’s great to see a nurturing brown-skinned male caregiver, the idea of an “Invention Convention” is fun, and a sustainable-energy invention is laudable. However, these elements don’t make up for rhymes that often feel forced and a lackluster story.
A disappointing follow-up. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68263-164-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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