by Mac Barnett ; illustrated by Kevin Cornell ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2013
More fun than a barrel of…well, you know.
How does one count the monkeys if there are no monkeys left to count? A philosophical question of the ages (and storytime).
The title page drolly advises readers from the start: “It’s fun. It’s easy. All you have to do is turn the page….” But there are no monkeys! Instead, there is a giant king cobra who has slithered across the entire book and scared all of the monkeys away. The audience is now directed to “[t]urn the page very slowly, very carefully so he doesn’t notice us.” Are the monkeys on the next page? Nope. But there are two mongooses who have chased away the cobra. Or is it mongeese? Barnett polls the readers, asking their opinion. And so it goes. Three dapper crocodiles frighten the mongooses, four picnic-loving grizzly bears frighten the crocodiles—but will there ever be any monkeys? This kinetic, raucous read-aloud invites kids to hum tunes, roar loudly, close their eyes and politely say “thank you” six times to the sweet old-lady beekeepers who chase away the bees. But alas, the book runs out of pages before those petrified primates ever make an appearance. (Thank goodness for endpapers.)
More fun than a barrel of…well, you know. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4231-6065-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2013
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by Owen Hart ; illustrated by Sean Julian ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2017
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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by Owen Hart ; illustrated by Caroline Pedler
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by Owen Hart ; illustrated by Judi Abbot
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by Owen Hart ; illustrated by Caroline Pedler
by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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by Jimmy Fallon & Jennifer Lopez ; illustrated by Andrea Campos
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