A warmhearted, colorfully illustrated romp for young cat lovers.
In Swissler’s (Deliverance from Evil, 1992) brief debut for children, with illustrations by Barac, a peripatetic cat named Spunky has a series of adventures.
Spunky, a pumpkin orange cat, has a comfortable home with humans who love and take care of him, but he’s always eager to explore the world outside his home—but “when Spunky took a walk, something always happened.” He befriends a large, gentle dog named Bella, and the two meet daily to companionably roam the neighborhood. Spunky enjoys visiting other homes (until he’s doused with a bucket of water by a homeowner), he likes to climb trees (until, thinking that he’s stuck, panicked children call the fire department), and he very much enjoys when the children he lives with treat him to ice cream on their way home from school. Yet for all these adventures, which may or may not take place in one day, Bella misses the excitement while waiting patiently for Spunky to meet him at his garage. In the book’s final pages, readers learn that as Spunky grows older, his “naps grew longer and playtime with the kids grew shorter,” though his home life remains constant, as does his relationship with Bella. The cat and dog continue to share sunsets together and relish each other’s company; the destinations aren’t important, but the short journeys are. Spunky’s legendary status isn’t quite explained, although he does manage to stir up trouble wherever he roams. Though competent and mildly appealing, the watercolor illustrations don’t feel fresh or particularly modern, and the text to art ratio could be improved with more illustrations, perhaps with spreads over two pages.
A warmhearted, colorfully illustrated romp for young cat lovers.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1494796365
Page Count: 30
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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