Formula aside, there are many belly laughs to be had from the sheer “just-because” wackiness of this creation.
Sasquatch is a weird and wacky critter with a penchant for water; he wants to sit beside the pool, but he doesn’t like to get wet, because it makes his fur “all squizzlefied,” a situation predictably set up for disaster.
Lifeguard Blobule gives him permission to take a seat by the pool, but one by one, other large and fanciful critters conspire to break the rule and splash the Sasquatch. Miss Elephant Shark, Mr. Octo-Rhino, Miss Goat-Whale, and Miss Loch-Ness-Monster-Space-Alien all jump in, splashing as much as should be expected from their bulk. Prima donna Sasquatch gets madder and madder, until, as predicted, his hair gets…squizzlefied! Once they realize what they have done, the friends make amends by spinning, shimmying, and styling the offended creature, and they all end up throwing a glorious pool party in which everyone gets wet. The energy and wackiness of the characters are effectively conveyed by Staake’s colorful, computer-generated cutout illustrations, which give the impression of carefully controlled chaos as the figures romp and splash through the pages. There is a hint of a well-used formula here, and the book’s similarity to the previous Don’t Squish the Sasquatch (2012) may leave some readers feeling short-changed.
Formula aside, there are many belly laughs to be had from the sheer “just-because” wackiness of this creation. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4231-5233-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A comforting lesson for kids that the things that we fear are only as large or small as we make them.
Children turn the tables on an impressive array of not-too-scary monsters in this interactive celebration of toddler empowerment imported from France.
Young readers show a big bad wolf, a toothy sea serpent, a furry four-eyed monster, a vampire, and a growling ogre who’s boss in this clever board book. Each four-page encounter begins, on verso, with the question, “If you are afraid of this [wolf/monster/etc.]…”; this is followed by the instruction to “…turn the page…” on recto. On the page to be turned is a die-cut pattern. Four rectangular cutouts that serve as tree trunks on recto prove to be the bars of a jail cell in which the wolf from the previous spread is imprisoned on verso, for example. The facing page exclaims, “You sent it to jail! Now lock the door with the key.” Similarly, an enormous “sea dragon” menaces a boat with a die-cut sail in one scene, but after a turn of the page, the dragon’s startled head peers out from under the lid of a simmering pot on a stovetop. “Good job! You put it in a pot! Now you can cook it with potatoes!” Cartoonishly rendered characters with big eyes, outsized jaws and teeth, and lots of personality provide the perfect blend of ferocity and silliness. Bright colors and the clever cutout gimmicks add visual appeal.
A comforting lesson for kids that the things that we fear are only as large or small as we make them. (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72820-945-6
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
Lots for young readers to see and count.
A little boy has misplaced his pet dragon and must search for him all over the city, counting up from one dragon to 20 lanterns.
Black line pen-and-ink drawings in finely patterned detail depict a vital, lively New York City of the imagination. Colored-pencil images on each double-page spread are reserved for the city-specific items to be counted along the way, and the endpapers depict a loosely interpreted map indicating the sites. Readers first meet the adventurous dragon in all his greenness, as he is, of course, the representative of the number one. As he moves about the city, the unnamed little boy hypothesizes the locations at which he might find his pet. He is quite accurate in his guesses, but the dragon seems to be a master at blending in to the background, mysteriously having lost his color. But there are things to count, like two pink hot dogs in brown buns, three purple buses and four blue sailboats on the river, all the way up to 20 red lanterns in Chinatown, where he finally spots the dragon, “[r]ight where I left him.” If this is an attempt at reminding young readers that the dragon is imaginary, it’s a bit of an anticlimax, and it takes a great deal of the fun out of the previous travels around the city. But the visual appeal overcomes it all.
Lots for young readers to see and count. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: April 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6648-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
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