Moooooove over, Minerva Louise: When it comes to daffy misidentifications, Cow’s got you beat. Seen in ultra-close-up photos, a small, mass-produced plastic Holstein squeeze toy visits a real farm, poses with “some big dogs” (actually a donkey and a horse) and feathered “cats,” runs into a herd of bovine “frogs,” among other encounters, then chronicles these adventures (“Chapter One. I am born”) on a portable typewriter. The text runs to a brief declarative sentence or two per page. Preschoolers will delightedly roar out corrections—“Those aren’t cats! They’re geese!”—but Cow’s decidedly skewed view of reality will engender hoots from any audience. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: May 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-58246-139-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
A precocious girl’s reverie begins when the birds’ morning songs drift through her window. Initially, she reflects on their vastly varied physical attributes; her thoughts then turn to the birds’ relationship with their physical environment, both collectively and individually. Powerful images reflect their beauty. “Sometimes in winter, a bird in a tree looks like one red leaf left over.” While the girl wishes to fly like birds she enjoys, she is encouraged by the commonality that unites them: “I can sing!” Dronzek’s wavy black lines accentuate the birds’ natural radiance; acrylic smudges exude a hazy glow. Dark bursts of color explode against the sky in a striking double-page spread as a flock takes flight en masse; the word “surprise” above outstretched branches reflects the thought with bold uneven letters. Spare language enhances the story’s quiet essence; the girl’s musings change abruptly, with a child’s mercurial speed, resulting in a grounded offering that begins to fly but doesn’t fully soar. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-06-136304-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2009
Animated and educational.
A hare and a ground squirrel banter about the differences between related animals that are often confused for one another.
Jack is “no Flopsy, Mopsy, or Cottontail,” but a “H-A-R-E, hare!” Like sheep and goats, or turtles and tortoises, rabbits and hares may look similar, but hares are bigger, their fur changes color in the winter, and they are born with their eyes wide open. As the ground squirrel (not to be mistaken for a chipmunk (even though Jack cheekily calls it “Chippie”) and Jack engage in playful discussion about animals, a sneaky coyote prowls after them through the Sonoran Desert. This picture book conveys the full narrative in spirited, speech-bubbled dialogue set on expressive illustrations of talking animals. Dark outlines around the characters make their shapes pop against the softly blended colors of the desert backgrounds. Snappy back-and-forth paired with repetition and occasional rhyme enhances the story’s appeal as a read-aloud. As the story progresses, the colors of the sky shift from dawn to dusk, providing subtle, visual bookends for the narrative. One page of backmatter offers a quick guide to eight easily confused pairs, and a second turns a subsequent exploration of the book into a seek-and-find of 15 creatures (and one dessert) hidden in the desert. Unfortunately, while most of the creatures from the seek-and-find appear in poses that match the illustrations in the challenge, not all of them are consistently represented. (This book was reviewed digitally with 7-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 53.3% of actual size.)
Animated and educational. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-12506-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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