This warm, inviting interpretation offers a new slant on the familiar story, interesting to all but especially irresistible...
by Maryann Macdonald ; illustrated by Amy June Bates ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 2013
Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci of the Madonna and baby Jesus holding a cat inspire this tender Nativity story about a kitten that becomes a beloved pet of the Christ child.
The story begins with a wailing baby. “Jesus was beautiful, like all babies. And like all babies, he cried.” That thematic thread of a cranky, crying (but cute) Christ child continues, with the only thing that will calm him the purring and attention of a ginger kitten. The cat bonds with the baby in the stable immediately after the child’s birth, soothing the crying baby when parents, doves, a cow and a donkey have all failed. When Joseph, Mary and Jesus flee King Herod’s soldiers, the cat stows away in the donkey’s pack, once again soothing the child and stopping his crying. The final page of the story shows Mary next to Jesus as a boy with his full-grown cat, with one of Leonardo’s similarly structured drawings reproduced on the last page with an author’s note. Evocative illustrations in watercolor, gouache and pencil are filled with golden light, capturing the touching interactions between mother and baby, child and cat.
This warm, inviting interpretation offers a new slant on the familiar story, interesting to all but especially irresistible to cat lovers. (Picture book/religion. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3498-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
Share your opinion of this book
Did you like this book?
More by Maryann Macdonald
BOOK REVIEW
by Maryann Macdonald ; illustrated by Jo Fernihough
BOOK REVIEW
by Maryann Macdonald ; illustrated by Priscilla Burris
BOOK REVIEW
by Maryann Macdonald ; illustrated by Mandy Sutcliffe
by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2010
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 29, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
Share your opinion of this book
Did you like this book?
More by Craig Smith
BOOK REVIEW
by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley
BOOK REVIEW
by Doug MacLeod ; illustrated by Craig Smith
BOOK REVIEW
by Adam Osterweil and illustrated by Craig Smith
by Aaron Reynolds & illustrated by Peter Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 21, 2012
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
Share your opinion of this book
Did you like this book?
More by Aaron Reynolds
BOOK REVIEW
by Aaron Reynolds ; illustrated by Cam Kendell
BOOK REVIEW
by Aaron Reynolds illustrated by Cam Kendell
BOOK REVIEW
by Aaron Reynolds ; illustrated by Emma Reynolds
© Copyright 2021 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!