This Goldilocks is as headstrong as ever. One raised eyebrow and a pert look at the reader during her father’s morning advice—to not rush into places she doesn’t belong—signals that this imprudent protagonist is headed for trouble. Unlike Jon Scieszka’s The Stinky Cheese Man, Willey’s text plays at the edges, adjusting some minor details while maximizing the story’s moral message. The bear’s “cabin” is lair-like, littered with fish bones and fur; their beds are piles of leaves and feathers; their porridge, a mixture of beetles and scales. Upon finding the intruder of their home is a clawless creature without sharp teeth, the bears’ anger turns to sympathy. But before the bears can act Goldilocks wakes and runs, making it safely home to a father who asks if she’s remembered his earlier advice. Solomon’s use of collage adds a realistic texture and richness to the images, lending a visual interest to the narrative, the changes in which neither enhance nor upend the original classic. (Picture book/folktale. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4169-2494-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2008
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
Even the most bee-phobic readers will have a hard time resisting this swarm of humor and fact.
Following much the same format as in I’m Trying to Love Spiders (2015), Barton makes a strong case for the value of bees.
Edgar, a torpedo-shaped white kid with googly eyes and a scribble of hair, loves everything the narrator does, including dinosaurs, strawberries, and honey, but he’s not so sure about bees. The narrator proceeds to persuade him to “give bees a chance,” telling him there are “about 25,000 different kinds of bees to love” (a sampling of which are introduced on front and rear endpapers), describing the composition of a honeybee colony and honeybee anatomy, and regaling him with cool bee facts. Edgar’s still not sure, because, he says, “they’re all gonna sting me!” Since many readers likely share Edgar’s apprehension, Barton’s counter to this is delightfully kidcentric: “most bees lose their stinger after attacking,” she says, “which would be like your hand disappearing if you pinched your sister!” Edgar remains unconvinced, so Barton drills down on the importance of bee pollination to the world’s food supply, illustrating it with a strawberry plant that says, “throw me some pollen! I don’t have arms.” Barton’s digital mix of scribbly cartoons and comics-style panels, splashy, watercolor-effect backgrounds, and exuberant hand-lettering makes for a high-energy celebration of all things Apis.
Even the most bee-phobic readers will have a hard time resisting this swarm of humor and fact. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-670-01694-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
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