Webster J. Duck emerges from his egg a beguiling, web-footed, and fuzzyheaded yellow duckling who has not yet seen his mother. Mother Duck seems to be nowhere in sight. When Webster sets off to find her, he meets in turn a dog, a sheep, and a cow, or, as he thinks of them, a Duck with a Waggly Tail, a Big Woolly Duck, and a Bigger Big Duck. They offer barks and baas and moos to his questioning “quack-quack?,” but the newly hatched Webster, unlike his literary antecedents, has his wits about him. He knows that these other creatures could not be his mother: “My mother would go ‘quack-quack’ like me!” But where is she? Poor Webster is soon in tears, and though the larger animals try to help by calling for the mother duck in their own languages, Webster is the very picture of a duckling in despair. Mother Duck appears at last, and Webster swims off with her. Gentle watercolor and pencil paintings suffuse the meadow and Webster’s reedy birthplace on the bank of the lake with the warmth of a summer day. The illustrations go right to the edge of the page, and the text, in a clear, agreeable, good-sized font, is beautifully laid out, a complement to the pictures—giving a classic, harmonious look to the overall result. Pair this with Waddell’s equally reassuring Owl Babies (1996) for comfort night and day. Simple, sweetly humorous, and just ducky. (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7636-1506-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...
A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand.
As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school.
Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-933718-77-4
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Energetic woodcuts accompany playfully simple poems as they give young readers an engaging tour of the barnyard. From the usual suspects—rooster, cow, sheep—to some of the less celebrated denizens of the farm—snake, bees, turtle—each poem varies to suit its subject. The barn cat’s verse is succinct: “Mice / had better / think twice.” The snake’s winds its way down the page in sinuous shape. At their best, Elliott’s images are unexpected and all the more lovely: The turtle “Lifts her fossil head / and blinks / one, two, three / times in the awful light.” Others are not so successful, but Meade’s illustrations give them credence: The rooster “Crows and struts. / He’s got feathers! / He’s got guts!” This rhythmic but rather opaque assertion is accompanied by an oversized rooster who dominates the foreground; eyes shut in concentration, he levitates himself with the force of his crow—the very embodiment of “guts.” Farmyard books are a dime a dozen, but this one is a worthwhile addition, for those poems that reach beyond the ordinary and for the good-natured illustrations that complement them. (Picture book/poetry. 2-5)
Pub Date: March 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3322-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2008
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