Totally ebullient.
An irrepressible dog can’t resist falling into the same type of mischief over and over again, until something surprising changes his pattern.
This small, wiggly pup bounces upward as a silhouetted woman enters the animal shelter. He longs for a home “warm as soup / and cozy as pie,” full of nose kisses and tummy rubs. And oh, how exciting—the woman takes him home! “That very day, / Shoe Dog chewed through / five high heels, / four flip-flops, / three sneakers, / two boots, / one wing tip.” Scolding—“ ‘BAD DOG!’ / She, Herself said”—and punishment—no petting or access to the Big Bed—see him lying forlornly in a gray-blue space, subdued. But each time new shoes arrive, he tracks down and rips into the fresh box, chomping every shoe with gusto. Consequences ratchet up mildly, but Shoe Dog never learns impulse control as such; instead, unexpectedly, he meets a shoe he’d never, ever chew. Finally he’s welcome “on the Big Bed / in the Land of Upstairs,” curling up blissfully with his new shoe-love. Tillotson uses thick black lines for Shoe Dog’s scribbly, coiled-spring body, smudging charcoal inside his shape to give him substance; scraps of pink and beige mark his pointy ears and muzzle. Motion lines show how he scampers and bounds. The visual angle varies, and shoe-box tissue paper flies through the air.
Totally ebullient. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4169-7932-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Richard Jackson/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nursery charmer.
A pink-cheeked version of a song most everyone knows, with new verses highlighting cozy animal dyads across the world.
The bright yellow and red owlet with its parent opens the lullaby with the verse we all know. Next a papa deer and fawn in the forest, a whale and calf in the sea, a kangaroo and joey in the outback, vulture and chick and so on, each filling a two-page spread. The verse mirrors the pictures: “Glisten, glisten, little star, / how I wonder what you are. / Up above the grassy plain …” shows a papa lion and cub, and on the next spread—“…through the warm, wet jungle rain”—a pair of rosy-cheeked monkeys. The five-pointed, butter-gold star is prominently visible on every spread. Color and line are thick and bold, while all of the animals, from polar bears to pussy cats, have button eyes and the suggestion of human smiles. The final verse (“Twinkle over towns and trees, / fields and farms, / Lakes and seas”) shows just such a vista, with lollipop trees, a building-block city and a little red lighthouse. The concluding spread, “Twinkle, twinkle, up above … // … for me and for / the one I love” pictures that bright star on one page facing a golden-haired mother and child. The music for this venerable tune is on the back endpaper.
A nursery charmer. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2519-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Yes, the Pigeon has to go to school, and so do readers, and this book will surely ease the way.
All the typical worries and excuses kids have about school are filtered through Willems’ hysterical, bus-loving Pigeon.
Told mostly in speech balloons, the bird’s monologue will have kids (and their caregivers) in stitches at Pigeon’s excuses. From already knowing everything (except whatever question readers choose to provide in response to “Go ahead—ask me a question. / Any question!”) to fearing learning too much (“My head might pop off”), Pigeon’s imagination has run wild. Readers familiar with Pigeon will recognize the muted, matte backgrounds that show off the bird’s shenanigans so well. As in previous outings, Willems varies the size of the pigeon on the page to help communicate emotion, the bird teeny small on the double-page spread that illustrates the confession that “I’m… / scared.” And Pigeon’s eight-box rant about all the perils of school (“The unknown stresses me out, dude”) is marvelously followed by the realization (complete with lightbulb thought bubble) that school is the place for students to practice, with experts, all those skills they don’t yet have. But it is the ending that is so Willems, so Pigeon, and so perfect. Pigeon’s last question is “Well, HOW am I supposed to get there, anyway!?!” Readers will readily guess both the answer and Pigeon’s reaction.
Yes, the Pigeon has to go to school, and so do readers, and this book will surely ease the way. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-04645-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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