Encouragement for all who waddle to the beat of a different drummer.
A newly arrived duck who would rather oink, neigh, and even belt out “HIP-HIP HOORAY!” than quack has all the farmyard’s residents aflutter.
Duddle Puck’s little quirk is such a source of irritation—“Hank the Horse was stunned; / he was taken quite aback. / ‘Ducks should never neigh, / they really oughta quack!’ ”—that everyone including the farmer gangs up at last and quacks loudly in chorus to demonstrate how it’s supposed to be done. More amused than cowed, Duddle obligingly utters a gigantic “QUACK-” that is followed on the ensuing spread with an equally stentorian “A-DOODLE-DOO!” Echoing the author-illustrator duo’s previous nod to nonconformity, The Cow Loves Cookies (2010), Wilson contributes a rollicking rhymed narrative (a bit challenging to read, at least aloud, due to sudden metrical shifts and the protagonist’s tongue-twister name). Though Hall lays out the farm differently, it’s still an idyllic setting, into which he brings back both the spade-bearded farmer and, in an inconspicuous cameo, the cow. Topped by a feed cap just like the farmer’s, Duddle Puck struts insouciantly past the offended livestock, hops up onto a picnic table to cheer on a birthday celebration, and is last seen crowing proudly from the henhouse roof.
Encouragement for all who waddle to the beat of a different drummer. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4424-4927-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
A strong second outing in this new series for new readers.
Odd-couple friends find the best in each another.
First, Monkey can’t pinpoint a good idea for a Halloween costume. His bemused pal reminds him that it’s June, but Monkey is nonetheless fixated on finding just the right disguise. In this story and in the three that follow, Robot is indulgent of his rather silly friend, and he’s clearly the brighter of the two. Graphite-and-ink illustrations lend a classic feel to the book while supporting characterization by underscoring the winning qualities of Monkey’s sweet nature. He refuses to swim at the beach since Robot cannot join him and then later exuberantly plants an acorn to grow an oak, so he can turn the tire he’s just found into a swing. In the prior instance, Robot rewards his friend’s loyalty by pretending to lose his shovel and asking Monkey to swim into the water to retrieve it; in the latter, he patiently helps Monkey understand that waiting for an oak tree to grow from an acorn will mean they won’t have a tire swing for quite some time. All is not lost, though, when they find another solution to this quandary. The collection concludes with a story quietly reminiscent of Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s Dog and Bear: Two’s Company (2009) as Robot wears himself out trying to gather things needed for breakfast.
A strong second outing in this new series for new readers. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-5251-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Richard Jackson/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A scientist highlights elephant family values in this rare glimpse of a newborn’s first season.
“Family is very important to elephants,” notes O’Connell (Elephant Scientist, 2011), taking advantage of a serendipitous birth in a wild herd to observe and describe how adorable little “Liza”—“Even her belly and toenails are pink”—is nurtured and protected by her mother and other family members through her first few months. Reinforcing that message, the color photos almost without exception catch Liza posing beneath, or even leaning against, obviously attentive older elephants as the herd travels across the Namibian plain to a water hole for a drink and a refreshing mud bath. The physical birth itself isn’t described or shown, and the author covers the natural hazards that wild elephants face only in general terms (even the one photo showing elephants being tracked by lions has been artfully blurred). Nevertheless, her accounts of elephant growth, social behavior, and environmental and human challenges are both detailed enough to satisfy demanding young naturalists and easy for younger general readers to understand. A fetching portrait, from a researcher who has studied these animals for many years and plainly cares for them deeply. (fact page, afterword) (Informational picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-14944-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2013
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