by Mary Sullivan ; illustrated by Mary Sullivan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 11, 2020
A clever twist on traditional dog-versus-cat animosity, with subtle overtones of sharing and tolerance.
Dog and cat meet cute and make friends.
Bob is a dachshund with huge, expressive eyes and a mission to sleep all day on a carefully made twin bed. The understated text works with the drolly humorous illustrations to describe Bob’s “hard work” of creating a perfectly comfy sleeping spot. The dog tosses stuffed animals off the bed, rumples up the bedding, knocks over a lamp, and then settles in to the chaos in a cozy nest of pillows and blankets. A set of cat ears appears behind the bed, and the cat is gradually revealed on subsequent pages, referred to in mysterious fashion only as Someone. The cat watches and waits and then, on a double-page-spread with great dramatic impact, leaps through the air toward Bob. This spread with the attacking cat has as text only the single word “POUNCE!” illustrated in huge letters with the effect of reverberating motion. Replacing “Bob” with “Someone,” the text then repeats all the steps Bob went through to create the perfect sleeping spot, this time with illustrations depicting the cat mauling Bob and crawling in next to the surprisingly tolerant dog for a long nap together. Both Bob and Someone the cat have irresistible expressions, with their huge eyes conveying emotion on every page. This funny story will have wide appeal, from preschoolers just learning about humor right up to new readers, who will be able to handle the brief text set in a large font
A clever twist on traditional dog-versus-cat animosity, with subtle overtones of sharing and tolerance. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-99471-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
by Karma Wilson ; illustrated by Jane Chapman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2024
Cheery fun that will leave series fans “egg”-static.
In his latest outing, Bear and his pals go in search of eggs.
Bear “lumbers with his friends through the Strawberry Vale.” Raven finds a nest; climbing up, “The bear finds eggs!”: a refrain that appears throughout. Instead of eating the robin’s eggs, however, Bear leaves a gift of dried berries in the nest for the “soon-to-be-chicks.” Next, the friends find 10 mallard eggs (as bright blue as the robin’s), and Bear leaves sunflower seeds. Then the wail of Mama Meadowlark, whose bright yellow undercarriage strikes a warm golden note, leads them to promise to find her lost eggs. With his friends’ assistance, Bear finds one, and they decide to paint them “so they aren’t lost again.” Another is discovered, painted, and placed in Hare’s basket. After hours of persistent searching, Bear suddenly spots the remaining two eggs “in a small patch of clover.” Before they can return these eggs, the chicks hatch and rejoin their mother. Back at his lair, Bear, with his troupe, is visited by all 17 chicks and the robin, mallard, and meadowlark moms: “And the bear finds friends!” Though this sweet spring tale centers on finding and painting eggs, it makes no overt references to Easter. The soft green and blue acrylics, predictable rhymes, and rolling rhythm make this series installment another low-key natural read-aloud.
Cheery fun that will leave series fans “egg”-static. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781665936552
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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by Karma Wilson ; illustrated by AG Ford
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by Karma Wilson ; illustrated by Jane Chapman
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by Karma Wilson ; illustrated by Jane Chapman
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