Odd and off-putting.
Life’s full of important questions.
“When you hear ‘duck,’ ” asks Kuenster, “do you lower your head? / Or do you smile?” Once introduced, a white-feathered, blue-eyed duck leads readers to consider a series of other questions, many of which use rhyming words for emphasis (and silliness): “Did you ever grow a carrot so big? / It was too big for your pet pig.” Simple with bold hues, the illustrations have the look of childlike doodles reimagined through MS Paint. They are engaging, but storytellers reading the tale aloud will quickly find the fatal flaw of the story; the majority of the questions have yes or no answers, shutting down many opportunities for conversation, predictive thinking, and imaginative discussions. The final question is surprisingly heavy for the tale. “If an elephant lifted you…and asked to be freed / should his roomies / be free too?” Readers may ask if the jail cell (for an elephant, a frog, and a snake) is a zoo or a prison. Astute readers may guess it’s the prison of the book itself, as all the animals appeared in earlier questions. There are no answers, which may please some readers but will vex others. It’s a strange, ill-suited book, one that eats away at readers as they contemplate the logic behind the questions, the artistic approach, and the development of the story. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Odd and off-putting. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-59211-208-1
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Histria Kids
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too many bugs, figuratively.
Lucy, “the youngest member of a family of fireflies,” must overcome an irrational, moon-induced anxiety in order to leave her family tree trunk and glow.
The first six pages pull readers into a lush, beautiful world of nighttime: “When the sun has set, silence falls over the Big Forest, and all of the nighttime animals wake up.” Mixed media provide an enchanting forest background, with stylized flora and fauna eventually illuminated by a large, benign moon, because the night “doesn’t like to catch them by surprise.” Turning the page catches readers by surprise, though: the family of fireflies is decidedly comical and silly-looking. Similarly, the text moves from a lulling, magical cadence to a distinct shift in mood as the bugs ready themselves for their foray into the night: “They wave their bottoms in the air, wiggle their feelers, take a deep, deep breath, and sing, ‘Here we go, it’s time to glow!’ ” It’s an acceptable change, but more unevenness follows. Lucy’s excitement about finally joining the other bugs turns to “sobbing” two nights in a row. Instead of directly linking her behavior to understandable reactions of children to newness, the text undermines itself by making Lucy’s parents’ sweet reassurances impotent and using the grandmother’s scientific explanation of moonlight as an unnecessary metaphor. Further detracting from the story, the text becomes ever denser and more complex over the book’s short span.
Too many bugs, figuratively. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-84-16147-00-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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