A weak effort. (Picture book. 5-8)
A horse meanders through life.
At birth a colt is named Star by an unnamed little white girl who "whispered secrets to him that no one else knew." She raises him, takes him to horse shows, and then, having grown up, sells him to a lesson barn, where he is renamed Scout. When he proves unsuitable for a lesson horse—"unsure, [he] would stop and refuse to move"—he's sold for a trail horse and called Dude. When the trail outfit shuts down, he's trained to be a therapeutic riding horse and is this time renamed Journey and meets another little white girl who whispers to him. The description-heavy text lacks action, drama, plot, and characterization—the horse gets shuffled from one situation to another, and the people are interchangeable entities. It also seems odd that an animal temperamentally unsuited to be a school horse could pass muster for a therapeutic program. Siegler's otherwise attractive and accurate watercolors depict a world in which all the important people are white (a few faraway, indistinct riders may have dark skin), and the text describing the disabled girl at the end reads condescendingly: "nobody understood her mixed-up words."
A weak effort. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-934860-06-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Shenanigan
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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