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THE SEALS ON THE BUS

Name: THE SEALS ON THE BUS
Author: Lenny Hort
ISBN: 0-8050-5952-0

by Lenny Hort & illustrated by G. Brian Karas ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2000

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With a tiger at the wheel, the big purple bus rolls all over town, picking up a menagerie of passengers from sheep (“BAAAH, BAAAH, BAAAH”) to vipers—get it? — (“HISS, HISS, HISS”) to skunks (“SSSS, SSSS, SSSS”) before disgorging its dismayed human riders (“HELP! HELP! HELP!”) at an outdoor party. Though wild creatures waddle, tramp, or slither aboard by troops there's always room for more in Karas’s (Raising Sweetness, 1999, etc.) gleeful paint-and-paper collage scenes. The scene on the bus is bound to provoke a great reaction and reading (or honking) along is inevitable. It's a frolicsome spin on the familiar play rhyme, and a surefire alternative or follow-up to Maryann Kovalski's Wheels on the Bus (1987) or Paul Zelinsky's classic popup version (1990). Hop onboard. (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: April 1, 2000

ISBN: 0-8050-5952-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
DID DINOSAURS EAT PIZZA?
by Lenny Hort & illustrated by John O’Brien

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WEDDING DRESS MESS
by Beatrice Masini ; illustrated by AnnaLaura Cantone & adapted by Lenny Hort

- BOOK REVIEW
TIE YOUR SOCKS AND CLAP YOUR FEET
by Lenny Hort & illustrated by Stephen Kroninger

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THE LAMB WHO CAME FOR DINNER

by Steve Smallman & illustrated by Joëlle Dreidemy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2007

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A sweet iteration of the “Big Bad Wolf Mellows Out” theme. Here, an old wolf does some soul searching and then learns to like vegetable stew after a half-frozen lamb appears on his doorstep, falls asleep in his arms, then wakes to give him a kiss. “I can’t eat a lamb who needs me! I might get heartburn!” he concludes. Clad in striped leggings and a sleeveless pullover decorated with bands of evergreens, the wolf comes across as anything but dangerous, and the lamb looks like a human child in a fleecy overcoat. No dreams are likely to be disturbed by this book, but hardened members of the Oshkosh set might prefer the more credible predators and sense of threat in John Rocco’s Wolf! Wolf! (March 2007) or Delphine Perrot’s Big Bad Wolf and Me (2006). (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007

ISBN: 978-1-58925-067-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tiger Tales

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2007

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE TIGER WHO CAME FOR DINNER
by Steve Smallman ; illustrated by Joëlle Dreidemy

- BOOK REVIEW
POO IN THE ZOO
by Steve Smallman ; illustrated by Ada Grey

- BOOK REVIEW
THE ALLIGATOR WHO CAME FOR DINNER
by Steve Smallman ; illustrated by Joëlle Dreidemy

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TRASHY TOWN

by Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemesha ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 1999

Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches...

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Listeners will quickly take up the percussive chorus—“Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the Trashy town! Is the trash truck full yet? NO”—as they follow burly Mr. Gilly, the garbage collector, on his rounds from park to pizza parlor and beyond.

Flinging cans and baskets around with ease, Mr. Gilly dances happily through streetscapes depicted with loud colors and large, blocky shapes; after a climactic visit to the dump, he roars home for a sudsy bath.

Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches Eve Merriam’s Bam Bam Bam (1995), also illustrated by Yaccarino, for sheer verbal and visual volume. (Picture book. 5-7)