A noble look at the courage needed for honesty.
A pangolin must decide whether or not to lie to the Queen.
With a great big smile on his face, Pangolin is swinging in the sunshine on the palace grounds. But suddenly, to his horror, the swing breaks. “Heavens! What have I done? And what will I tell the Queen?” Pangolin consults his friends for advice. Badger suggests saying that a royal musician needed the strings for a lute. Goose has an even stranger idea: “Perhaps you can say that a giant bird mistook the ropes for worms.” And Pug? Well, Pug suggests blaming aliens. Fox and Cat also contribute possibilities. Stammering and quaking, Pangolin must make a decision. What will he tell the Queen? Lush, jewel-toned illustrations thrum with warmth; outside the palace, the rolling landscape is filled with endless flowers and swooping trees. Inside, ornate windows and scalloped archways present a truly royal atmosphere. Beatty expertly taps into a childlike perspective; she’s keenly aware that to avoid trouble, youngsters often spin fantastical explanations and that the push and pull of truth-telling can result in an agonizing internal debate. Luckily, all ends well when Pangolin finally decides to own up to the Queen—and the conclusion will point readers in the right direction when facing similar conundrums. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A noble look at the courage needed for honesty. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-18013-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Anne Schwartz/Random
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their...
Ruby is an adventurous and happy child until the day she discovers a Worry.
Ruby barely sees the Worry—depicted as a blob of yellow with a frowny unibrow—at first, but as it hovers, the more she notices it and the larger it grows. The longer Ruby is affected by this Worry, the fewer colors appear on the page. Though she tries not to pay attention to the Worry, which no one else can see, ignoring it prevents her from enjoying the things that she once loved. Her constant anxiety about the Worry causes the bright yellow blob to crowd Ruby’s everyday life, which by this point is nearly all washes of gray and white. But at the playground, Ruby sees a boy sitting on a bench with a growing sky-blue Worry of his own. When she invites the boy to talk, his Worry begins to shrink—and when Ruby talks about her own Worry, it also grows smaller. By the book’s conclusion, Ruby learns to control her Worry by talking about what worries her, a priceless lesson for any child—or adult—conveyed in a beautifully child-friendly manner. Ruby presents black, with hair in cornrows and two big afro-puff pigtails, while the boy has pale skin and spiky black hair.
A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their feelings (. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0237-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
Hee haw.
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. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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