Underwear proves underwhelming in this weak attempt at eliciting preschool giggles.
The only thing worse than a haunting? A putrid, odiferous undergarment haunting!
The mostly human denizens of Scaryville, representing a range of skin tones, have a ghost problem. Whether they’re at the movies or just trying to sit down to dinner, the ghost with the smelly old underwear, its knickers clearly in a twist, will pop out of nowhere. Something must be done, so one by one brave volunteers march into the ghost’s castle, always retreating when they encounter the haunting. Fortunately, Old Granny Fanny, a light-skinned, gray-haired woman, appears with a pair of fresh new undies for the unhappy spirit, and things take a turn for the better. Gómez’s cartoonish art has a childlike simplicity to it. Much of the plot’s heavy lifting relies on its young audience finding the repeated phrase smelly old underwear hilarious. For those who do not, the book may be a bit of a slog. Further, the text, translated from Spanish, has its share of clunky moments. For example, the citizens of Scaryville are scared, “Because there lived… // The ghost with the smelly old underwear!!!” Putting aside precisely how a ghost “lives,” disconnections between text and image include visits to “the garbage dump,” which appears to simply be a single trash bin. This tale fails to reach its potential. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Underwear proves underwhelming in this weak attempt at eliciting preschool giggles. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-84-18599-43-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NubeOcho
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
Other, stronger picture books about friendship abound.
Wilfred is big. Wilfred is hairy. Wilfred is lonesome.
In this odd little story, Wilfred takes his big, hairy, lonely self to a nearby town where he hopes to make a friend. It turns out that the townspeople he encounters just happen to be bald: “They didn’t have a single hair on their heads. Not even the ladies.” Unfazed, Wilfred longs to join the bald children in their play, but all except one boy run away from him, and they end up having a great time together. Meanwhile, instead of maintaining fear of the giant, the other people take an interest in him since winter is coming and they want to take his hair to make wigs for themselves. They convince Wilfred he must shave himself in order to maintain his friendship—but now he is too cold to leave his cave. As the story twists and turns through its forced plotline, a now-hairless Wilfred ends up emerging as a hero when he rescues the little boy who initially befriended him. In gratitude, the townspeople remove their wigs and sew them into a large, hairy suit for Wilfred to wear, accepting him into their community. The pen-and-ink illustrations with digital colorization have an appealing cartoonish quality to them, but they can’t make up for the lackluster story.
Other, stronger picture books about friendship abound. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 21, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3732-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
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For youngsters working on self-control (a school-readiness skill), Stewart does…eventually…learn that good things come to...
Stewart, from This Monster Needs a Haircut (2012), is going camping for the first time, and he (literally) cannot wait.
The camping trip is five whole days away. That is agony for such an impulsive and excitable monster. (Even on the title page, he’s already urging readers to “Just read the book already!”) In the hopes of speeding things up, Stewart paints the clocks, changes the calendar and even builds a time machine—but nothing works. Then Stewart realizes that if he could just make the end of the story come faster, camping would come faster too! Crumbling the fourth wall for readers, he reaches down to tug at the corners of the pages, while eagerly ripping another completely in half. Fortunately, Stewart’s parents are not amused and make him tape the book back together. Toothy and unkempt, with wild eyes and a temper tantrum of a roar—“I wanna go camping NOW!”—Stewart fully embodies a preschooler who has not yet mastered the art of waiting. Barton’s sprawling, hand-lettered text and its buoyant placement match the urgency of Stewart’s desperation. Patience is certainly a virtue, and one that is difficult to learn.
For youngsters working on self-control (a school-readiness skill), Stewart does…eventually…learn that good things come to those who wait. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3779-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013
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