Quiet thinkers will enjoy meeting a character like themselves, and others may gain a better understanding of those who crave...
Everyone in the Bungle family squeaks, squawks and squelches too much for Sam, the quiet, dreamy middle-child creature (the Bungles look vaguely like raccoons).
Sam is bombarded by noise in Doyle's captivatingly onomatopoeic free verse. Vere illustrates sound as colorful bubbles and bursts that issue forth from each family member. Against the paper-bag–brown background, readers see pink upside-down teardrop shapes coming from Mama, a purple balloon of sound from Granny’s knitting needles and a spiky orange blast from sister Bella. But poor Sam has a squiggly tornado of black lines above his head. He needs to get away from this noise. “So he upped / and so he offed / and so he wandered / to the woods.” At first all is bliss, as he finds himself surrounded by clouds, trees and a small stream. Bunnies and birds emit tiny sound shapes in pink, yellow and blue. Sam is inspired to create some rhymes, but gradually it gets dark. The deepening purple scenes become increasingly scary as he feels “a flitter-flutter / flap around his face” and then a “slippy-slidy / [slither] / down his neck!” Young ones will see that these threatening things are only benign nocturnal creatures. Predictably, Sam must resort to the behavior he usually loathes and yells for help. Slowly he hears his family come for him as a double-page spread shows him happily engulfed in a “HURRICANE OF NOISE!”
Quiet thinkers will enjoy meeting a character like themselves, and others may gain a better understanding of those who crave a little peace. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6226-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
Gently models kindness and respect—positive behavior that can be applied daily.
A group of young “dinosauruses” go out into the world on their own.
A fuchsia little Hugasaurus and her Pappysaur (both of whom resemble Triceratops) have never been apart before, but Hugasaurus happily heads off with lunchbox in hand and “wonder in her heart” to make new friends. The story has a first-day-of-school feeling, but Hugasaurus doesn’t end up in a formal school environment; rather, she finds herself on a playground with other little prehistoric creatures, though no teacher or adult seems to be around. At first, the new friends laugh and play. But Hugasaurus’ pals begin to squabble, and play comes to a halt. As she wonders what to do, a fuzzy platypus playmate asks some wise questions (“What…would your Pappy say to do? / What makes YOU feel better?”), and Hugasaurus decides to give everyone a hug—though she remembers to ask permission first. Slowly, good humor is restored and play begins anew with promises to be slow to anger and, in general, to help create a kinder world. Short rhyming verses occasionally use near rhyme but also include fun pairs like ripples and double-triples. Featuring cozy illustrations of brightly colored creatures, the tale sends a strong message about appropriate and inappropriate ways to resolve conflict, the final pages restating the lesson plainly in a refrain that could become a classroom motto. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Gently models kindness and respect—positive behavior that can be applied daily. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-82869-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
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
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