Sure to elicit giggles with every “RAWR!” of distress.
Watch out, dinosaurs: Those kitties look innocent, but they are adorable bundles of menace.
The reptilian residents of Dinosaur Island are bored. The narrator encouragingly tells them they can make dirt forts or watch things sink in tar pits or even reassemble skeletons…but they’ve done all that! They want to play with the kitties of Kitty Island. “Dinos, that’s cuckoo pants.…Fun with those felines will end in catastrophe.” The pink and yellow and calico kitties who conquered the Dinosaur Island dinos in Kitties on Dinosaurs (2020) are ready for a reverse play date. Game No. 1? Launch the Lizards—with a geyser. After an alarming, wet flight through the air, surely the dinos have learned their lesson…but nope. Game No. 2 involves another frightening flight, this one aboard a deflating dirigible. Game No. 3? Hairball Floaty Races, which is both gross and dangerous, once the kitties attach the outboard motors to the revolting swim rings! The dinos are starting to get the idea these kittens are playing for keeps. Game No. 4 starts with jumping into a foreboding chasm…but it ends in the Tiny Baby Kitty Playroom, which teems with bevies of even smaller kitties. That has to be safe, right? You’d be surprised. Slack’s gleefully silly artwork features wide-eyed, innocent (-looking) kittens and scary (but usually terrified) dinos in bright cartoon colors. The kittens’ mouths are usually fixed in mischievous V’s, contrasting with the dinosaurs’ doleful expressions. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sure to elicit giggles with every “RAWR!” of distress. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-10841-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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