A single ball of yarn threatens and then strengthens an animal friendship in this slight tale. (Picture book. 4-6)
One ball of yarn plus two BFFs who both knit can lead to good intentions and a frayed friendship.
Badger and Porcupine share their days and their meals. One day, a peddler passing by drops a ball of red yarn, which unrolls entirely till it is one long string stretched out and wound around the woods. Porcupine and Badger each pick up one end. Each is industrious, and with knitting needles in hand they proceed to fashion gifts, each for the other, to the tune of “Floop. Floop. Floop-floop-floop.” When their projects unravel and they realize that they are sharing one ball, however, the two fall into a snit and proceed to fashion increasingly grand objects for themselves. A hammock, a tent, and a sail for a boat are all knit and purled into creation. But then night falls, the temperature drops, and the two meet on an icy field to exchange sweaters that they have made for each other. All is well in their world now. Moser’s tale of a friendship that cannot be torn apart by selfishness is sweet but not unfamiliar. Demidova’s colorful illustrations depict a lovely forest setting and a swirling strand of red yarn. Children may ponder the dilemma of a porcupine wearing a knit garment, though.
A single ball of yarn threatens and then strengthens an animal friendship in this slight tale. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8075-0762-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A straightforward tale of conflict and reconciliation for newly emergent readers? Not exactly, which raises it above the...
In this deceptively spare, very beginning reader, a girl assembles a robot and then treats it like a slave until it goes on strike.
Having put the robot together from a jumble of loose parts, the budding engineer issues an increasingly peremptory series of rhymed orders— “Throw, Bot. / Row, Bot”—that turn from playful activities like chasing bubbles in the yard to tasks like hoeing the garden, mowing the lawn and towing her around in a wagon. Jung crafts a robot with riveted edges, big googly eyes and a smile that turns down in stages to a scowl as the work is piled on. At last, the exhausted robot plops itself down, then in response to its tormentor’s angry “Don’t say no, Bot!” stomps off in a huff. In one to four spacious, sequential panels per spread, Jung develops both the plotline and the emotional conflict using smoothly modeled cartoon figures against monochromatic or minimally detailed backgrounds. The child’s commands, confined in small dialogue balloons, are rhymed until her repentant “Come on home, Bot” breaks the pattern but leads to a more equitable division of labor at the end.
A straightforward tale of conflict and reconciliation for newly emergent readers? Not exactly, which raises it above the rest. (Easy reader. 4-6)Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-87083-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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