A cat tries to get his teddy bear, Sleepyhead, to go to sleep in this rather mediocre effort. Cat and Sleepyhead follow the typical bedtime script: adult trying to stick to the routine; young child making all sorts of requests in order to delay. “We’ve kissed our kiss, your quilt is spread. Go to sleep. It’s time for bed. One more kiss, says Sleepyhead.” Subtle rhyme, a repetitive refrain and a gentle progression toward cuddles will help youngsters follow Sleepyhead to dreamland if they can ignore the disappointing illustrations (seemingly random changes in font size) and the text layout (normal on one page, wavy on the next). Segal’s watercolor characters are lacking in facial expression and are tiny, swallowed by background details on the pages. Sleepyhead cleverly moves through a dream world suggested by the pictures on his quilt, but the youngest readers may not notice this subtle play. Bedtime deserves so much more than this. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-4169-1241-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2006
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In this third story about Bear and his friends, Bear struggles to stay awake during the group’s holiday preparations. On Christmas Eve, all the other animals fall asleep, but Bear stays up all night making presents for the others. He’s so busy with his work that he misses the appearance of Santa, who pauses at the cave door to fill all their stockings. On Christmas morning, the smaller animals enjoy their own gifts and then surprise Bear with a comfy quilt for his long-awaited winter slumber. The rollicking rhyming text is punctuated with the regular refrain of “but the bear stays up,” which will surely be chanted gleefully by children listening to this story. The illustrations do a fine job with animal expressions and with difficult situations such as a mole popping corn and a Raven stirring up some fruitcake. The oversized format includes many double-page spreads with the bumbling, big-hearted bear in action and then finally settling down for a long winter’s nap, after which Bear had better be back. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-85278-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2004
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