Little Zee (2003) returns for a night’s horseplay (okay, zebraplay) with his parents. Annoyed at being sent away while the grownups watch a scary movie on TV, Zee sneaks back beneath a sheet, and sends them galloping out of the room with a loud “BOO.” Eventually, after some mysterious household noises and much tiptoeing about in the dark, all end up snuggled together in bed. Zee’s parents put up a convincing show of alarm in Gay’s Marc-Simont–like illustrations, but with darkness indicated by the thinnest and most transparent of sepia washes, every figure is always plainly, reassuringly visible to young viewers. “Don’t be afraid,” Zee murmurs, in a bit of role reversal at the end of this cozy bedtime episode, “I’ll stay with you and hold you tight. Good night!” Sleep tight. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 22, 2004
ISBN: 0-618-43931-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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Even more alliterative hanky-panky from the creators of The Wonky Donkey (2010).
Operating on the principle (valid, here) that anything worth doing is worth overdoing, Smith and Cowley give their wildly popular Wonky Donkey a daughter—who, being “cute and small,” was a “dinky donkey”; having “beautiful long eyelashes” she was in consequence a “blinky dinky donkey”; and so on…and on…and on until the cumulative chorus sails past silly and ludicrous to irresistibly hysterical: “She was a stinky funky plinky-plonky winky-tinky,” etc. The repeating “Hee Haw!” chorus hardly suggests what any audience’s escalating response will be. In the illustrations the daughter sports her parent’s big, shiny eyes and winsome grin while posing in a multicolored mohawk next to a rustic boombox (“She was a punky blinky”), painting her hooves pink, crossing her rear legs to signal a need to pee (“winky-tinky inky-pinky”), demonstrating her smelliness with the help of a histrionic hummingbird, and finally cozying up to her proud, evidently single parent (there’s no sign of another) for a closing cuddle.
Should be packaged with an oxygen supply, as it will incontestably elicit uncontrollable gales of giggles. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-60083-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lovely tale about the trials of a budding artist brought to us by the author/illustrator of Dot (2003). Ramon creates drawings at a furious pace. Everywhere he goes, he draws. But there’s nothing like a derisive older brother to put the kibosh on a sensitive artist type. Suddenly, Ramon becomes self-critical. He cannot satisfy his own desire to get things “right” anymore, so he decides to put away his pencil for good. Luckily another family member, his sister, has secretly been collecting Ramon’s art for her own private gallery. She convinces him that a successful drawing need not be a perfect reflection of reality. It’s okay if a house looks house-ish or a fish looks fish-ish. It is just the liberating sentiment Ramon needs to reignite his creativity. Told in spare prose with Reynolds’s signature line drawings in watercolor, ink, and tea, Ish will encourage other little artists. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-7636-2344-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2004
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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