“In the early times, some were clever and some were foolish. The Cat was one of the clever ones. The mice were mostly foolish.” So begins MacDonald’s latest folktale retelling, this one from the Limba people of Sierra Leone. When the Cat invites the mice to join the secret Cat Society, they are only too pleased and cheerfully line themselves up for the “initiation march” while the Cat scoops them up and puts them in her sack. Luckily for the mice, there is one clever one, Mabela, who remembers her father’s sage advice and escapes from the Cat just in time, rescuing the other mice as the Cat languishes in a thorn bush. The energetic text is trademark MacDonald (Pickin’ Peas, 1998, etc.), written purely to be read aloud, and punctuated by a chant that invites children to join in. Coffey’s (Red Berry Wool, 1999) saturated acrylics depict a vaguely African anthropomorphized world where animals live in grass huts. Bright borders set off the text blocks, and occasionally frame a detail, such as a tiny tongue sneaking out to lick a delicate chop when the cat greets the eager mice: “ ‘Oh, my, you have ALL arrived!’ said the Cat. ‘How delicious . . . I mean, how delightful.’ ” The Cat is orange, and her pointy green eyes protrude from the plane of her face, giving her a truly shifty-eyed (and somewhat disconcerting) look. Mabela herself is a little red mouse, whose enormous eyes dominate her bucktoothed face. The tale is somewhat moralizing at the end—“Limba grandparents say, ‘If a person is clever, it is because someone has taught them their cleverness’ ”—but children will respond nevertheless to this plucky little heroine who saves herself by her wits. (Picture book/folktale. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8075-4902-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
A title easily summed up in a single word: magic.
Patience and persistence pay off in Caldecott Medalist Cordell’s ode to owling.
Janie’s long dreamed of seeing an owl. “Perfectly stout. Large, round eyes. Silent, knowing faces. Birds of the night.” Janie’s new teacher, Mr. Koji, is a birder, and Janie’s inspired by his words: “To see an owl is magic.” Accompanied by Mama, Janie searches the woods, an open prairie, the beach, a harbor, and even a cemetery. Yet even after months, not a single owl has presented itself. Undeterred, Janie gets a tip from Mr. Koji. When Janie finally goes to the location he suggested, Cordell presents readers with a truly resplendent moment. Incredible pen-and-ink illustrations treated with watercolors convey not simply Janie’s passion (readers get glimpses of the young birder’s drawings, notes, and map) but also subtler details, like Mama’s uncertainty or one moment in which the two miss a hidden owl entirely. The understanding that there are no guarantees with nature lends a special poignancy to the pages. While the book has distinct ties to titles such as Jane Yolen’s Owl Moon (1987), illustrated by John Schoenherr, and Susan Edwards Richmond’s Night Owl Night (2023), illustrated by Maribel LeChuga, it also contains additional lessons on staying the course, which resonate loud and clear. Janie and Mama are brown-skinned; Mr. Koji presents East Asian.
A title easily summed up in a single word: magic. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593649893
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Totes adorbs.
A cuddly, squishy pug’s puggy-wuggy diary.
Equipped with both #pugunicorn and #pughotdog outfits, pug Baron von Bubbles (aka Bub) is the kind of dog that always dresses to impress. Bub also makes lots of memorable faces, such as the “Hey, you’re not the boss of me!” expression aimed at Duchess, the snooty pink house cat. Some of Bub’s favorite things include skateboarding, a favorite teddy, and eating peanut butter. Bub also loves Bella, who adopted Bub from a fair—it was “love at first sniff.” Together, Bub and Bella do a lot of arts and crafts. Their latest project: entering Bella’s school’s inventor challenge by making a super-duper awesome rocket. But, when the pesky neighborhood squirrel, Nutz, makes off with Bub’s bear, Bub accidentally ruins their project. How will they win the contest? More importantly, how will Bella ever forgive him? May’s cutesy, full-color cartoon art sets the tone for this pug-tastic romp for the new-to–chapter-books crowd. Emojilike faces accentuate Bub’s already expressive character design. Bub’s infectious first-person narration pushes the silly factor off the charts. In addition to creating the look and feel of a diary, the lined paper helps readers follow the eight-chapter story. Most pages have fewer than five sentences, often broken into smaller sections. Additional text appears in color-coded speech bubbles. Bella presents white.
Totes adorbs. (Fiction. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-53003-2
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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