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
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
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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