Delicious.
A spunky bunny girl, whimsical watercolor illustrations and a laugh-out-loud plot are the key ingredients for this sweet and satisfying treat of a story.
“Betty Bunny was a handful.” That’s what her mother always tells her, and the author and illustrator show readers just how much of a handful she is, capturing her irrepressible personality (which includes a streak of creative naughtiness). Little Betty, the youngest child of four, becomes enraptured with chocolate cake, announcing she loves it so much, she wants to marry it. Her brothers jump right in to tease her, her sister tries to help and her mom offers calm solutions, all with minimal text set in an attractive type with key phrases in larger, bold font. Kaplan, a television writer and producer, has an exquisite sense of dramatic pacing and comedic timing, as well as a deep understanding of a 5-year-old bunny girl’s emotions. Betty has intense feelings: She truly loves her chocolate cake, and she is truly furious at her siblings when they tease her. The author captures the flavor of sibling interactions as well, with each of the three older rabbit children interacting with Betty in characteristic ways, including some hilarious smart-aleck comments from the bunny brothers. Betty not only wants to marry her chocolate cake, she wants to keep it close to her too, finding out the hard way that cake doesn’t belong in your pocket…or your sock.
Delicious. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3407-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s a lucky thing indeed that this book is as great a joy to read aloud as it is.
One duck’s luck is another wolf’s disaster in this tale of tragedy averted.
Right from the start, Susan is convinced that she is by far the unluckiest of ducks, since the roller skates she ordered turned out to be two sizes too big. Just at that moment, however, a well-dressed wolf appears at her door, informing her that she’s the winner of a big beautiful soup pot. And so it goes: Each time Susan feels that her luck’s run out, the wolf reappears with some new (and edible) soup-related prize. Long before poor Susan does, kids will realize the price of the wolf’s gifts. Still, when the finale arrives, it turns out that each “unlucky” thing to happen to Susan helps her to survive another day. Sharp-eyed readers may notice a tiny bug responsible for at least two of Susan’s missing items, also aiding in her deliverance from the wolf’s hungry maw. The pure clean lines and limited palette lend a distinctly ’50s vibe to the proceedings, while the text makes for a charming storytime. Meanwhile, the narrative has shades of Keiko Kasza’s My Lucky Day (2003) and Mo Willems’ That Is NOT a Good Idea (2013). Few may be surprised by the resolution, but the familiarity is much of the story’s charm.
It’s a lucky thing indeed that this book is as great a joy to read aloud as it is. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593649770
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
Slight, though silly and amusing.
Barnacle longs for a change in routine.
A lone, pale barnacle hangs over the blue water, affixed by its hatlike shell to the bottom of a wooden pier. Here it seems to the barnacle that every day is just about the same: “The tide comes IN. // I am WET and COLD. / The tide goes OUT. // I am DRY and HOT.” The crustacean watches the world go by, or at least as much of it as is visible from one fixed vantage point. Four appendages wave expressively below an exaggeratedly cartoonish face. Its expression is scowling and grumpy: “I am BORED.” When a yellow, polka-dot fish swims by, Barnacle is struck by a thought: “I bet his days are so FUN.” Perceptive readers may notice that from this point Barnacle is actually not entirely bored, as the many delights available to this brightly colored fish play out—at least in Barnacle’s imagination. Barnacle pictures the sunny, big-eyed fish happily engaged in entertaining, alliterative activities in the pale blue sea: “I bet he DIVES with dolphins. / I bet he SOARS with sailfish.” But a reversal in fortune demonstrates that excitement and boredom are all in how a situation is perceived (and also that, as in most of nature, eating or being eaten is the rule). Fenske’s open, flat-colored, loose-lined, animated cartoon style and simple dialogue-bubble text in a large, bold font are inviting for new readers.
Slight, though silly and amusing. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-86504-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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