This week’s worth of yucky, rhyming fun (and giggles) is a pleaser.
Grandma’s black cat collects some dreadful stuff.
The sibling protagonists say they like to stay with their grandmother…but her cat drags all things gross and frightful through the flap each night of the week. On Monday, there are bugs crawling all over the kitchen, as well as a hedgehog and an enormous, possibly dead, rat; Grandma is not pleased. “When we woke up on Tuesday, / got dressed and ran downstairs, / we found our troubled grandma tearing out her hair.” Now the cat’s brought in a bat, mice, lizards, ants, and some stranger’s underwear! On Wednesday when the kids come down, Grandma is “pointing at the kitchen and looking very grim. / ‘OH NO NO NO!’ she cried. / ‘Look what the CAT dragged in.’ ” Snakes, spiders, maggots, possibly dead birds, and a cheesed-off weasel—as well as a stranger’s laundry—have been added to the pile. On Saturday, the kids are just too scared to go into the kitchen, but Sunday brings a surprise: All is clean and normal….Grandma’s nailed up the cat flap and vowed the cat would stay in at night. Published in New Zealand in 2018, Davidson’s syncopated story of feline sneakiness will delight the youngest gross-out–loving crowd. The rhymed text almost begs to be sung, and Cooper’s exaggerated cartoon illustrations are expressive, silly, and satisfyingly ookie. The family presents white, and, refreshingly, this grandma is not gray-haired.
This week’s worth of yucky, rhyming fun (and giggles) is a pleaser. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-912904-60-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scribblers/Sterling
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends.
Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both!
Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. “Duck said, loud as he could quack it, / ‘THUNDER’S JUST A NOISY RACKET!’ ” In the quiet after the storm, the barnyard friends are sleepy, but the garage is not their home. “ ‘Beep!’ said Blue. ‘Just hop inside. / All aboard for the bedtime ride!’ ” Young readers will settle down for their own bedtimes as Blue and Toad drop each friend at home and bid them a good night before returning to the garage and their own beds. “Blue gave one small sleepy ‘Beep.’ / Then Little Blue Truck fell fast asleep.” Joseph’s rich nighttime-blue illustrations (done “in the style of [series co-creator] Jill McElmurry”) highlight the power of the storm and capture the still serenity that follows. Little Blue Truck has been chugging along since 2008, but there seems to be plenty of gas left in the tank.
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-85213-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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