An engaging title for kids with an important lesson, only slightly hampered by its thin, confusing setting.
In Bashir’s debut children’s book, a little dog struggles with his unusual name.
Petey Pots and Pans is a Chihuahua with an odd appellation, even for a dog. He lives with his human owners and another canine named Ducky Bobby. One day, he comes home “very upset from school,” and over the next few days, he endeavors to avoid going back. At the same time, he refuses to tell Ducky Bobby or his parents what the matter is. Finally, he admits that “[a]ll the kids at school laugh when the teacher calls my name.” His human “mama” comforts him, and tells him a story about a little boy with an unusual name who grew up to become president of the United States. The story apparently refers to President Barack Obama, although it never clearly spells the reference out. Kids who are familiar with the current president will be delighted to make the connection, but later generations may not see it as readily, so Petey’s conversation with his mama may lose some significance in future readings. Similarly, Petey and Ducky Bobby go to school like human children, but it’s never clearly established that they’re stand-ins for kids, or whether they live in a world in which dogs also go to school, the same way that children do. Beyond these puzzling touches, however, the book has a lot to offer. The overall premise is intriguing, and many children will be able to relate to it. The book’s fun format features rhymed, blue text, coupled with color photos of dogs in poses that match the story’s context. Illustrations of dogs and bones also frame each page. As a result, children will enjoy paging through this book to look at the pictures, even if some of its plot needs further explanation.
An engaging title for kids with an important lesson, only slightly hampered by its thin, confusing setting.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-1493120079
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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