BODEGA CAT

Name: BODEGA CAT
Author: Louie Chin
ISBN: 978-1-57687-932-0

by Louie Chin ; illustrated by Louie Chin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 24, 2019

A spunky bodega-dwelling kitty describes the ins and outs of a bustling neighborhood market.

Life for Chip the bodega cat is full of interesting new friends, great food, hard work, and a lot of fun. A bodega, Chip explains, is a “store that sells a little bit of everything you could need!” From tasty snacks to laundry detergent, the bodega has you covered 24 hours a day. The feline narrator details the rhythm of the day, which includes working diligently through the early-morning deliveries, the busy breakfast rush, the lunch crowd, and the lively after-school hours. Chip helps out around the store, at least in theory, by counting up inventory and lending a paw at the cash register. Of course, the friendly feline is never too busy for a round of hide-and-seek with its many “adoring fans,” the neighborhood kids. Characters depicted in the book represent many cultures and ethnicities, including Chip’s Latinx human family, headed by Papi, who’s from the Dominican Republic. Chin’s vibrant illustrations are touched with a graffiti-artist vibe and bring the world of the bodega to life with engaging full-color spreads. Details will feel perfectly executed to those familiar with bodegas already and will quickly transport those who haven’t yet had the pleasure. Readers’ mouths will water at the delicious-looking food prepared in the bodega’s kitchen.

This cute cat seamlessly works an education on bodegas into a playful story. (Picture book. 6-10)

Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-57687-932-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: POW!

Review Posted Online: July 24, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019

Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS

by Richard Atwater ; Florence Atwater ; illustrated by Robert Lawson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 1938

This is rather a silly story, and I don't believe children will think it particularly funny. A paper hanger and painter finds time on his hands in winter, and spends it in reading of arctic exploration. It is all given reality when he receives a present of a penguin, which makes its nest in the refrigerator on cubes of ice, mates with a lonely penguin from the zoo, and produces a family of penguins which help set the Poppers on their feet.

Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1938

ISBN: 978-0-316-05843-8

Page Count: 139

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1938

Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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Readers who (inexplicably) find David Lawrence’s Pickle and Penguin (2004) just too weird may settle in more comfortably...

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LOST AND FOUND

by Oliver Jeffers & illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2006

A lad finds a penguin on his doorstep and resolutely sets out to return it in this briefly told import.

Eventually, he ends up rowing it all the way back to Antarctica, braving waves and storms, filling in the time by telling it stories. But then, feeling lonely after he drops his silent charge off, he belatedly realizes that it was probably lonely too, and turns back to find it. Seeing Jeffers’s small, distant figures in wide, simply brushed land- and sea-scapes, young viewers will probably cotton to the penguin’s feelings before the boy himself does—but all’s well that ends well, and the reunited companions are last seen adrift together in the wide blue sea.

Readers who (inexplicably) find David Lawrence’s Pickle and Penguin (2004) just too weird may settle in more comfortably with this—slightly—less offbeat friendship tale. (Picture book. 6-8)