Groovy.
Dynamic monsters cavort and shriek and play with color.
These monsters have googly eyes, big cartoon grins and unthreateningly rounded bodies. At the beginning, some are a single primary color, while others are smaller and gray. One red monster, one yellow monster and one blue monster extol the virtues of their own colors with jubilant chantability if not strict logic: “Red is the color of ROAR! and SNORE! and more! more! MORE!”; “Yellow is the color of PROWL! and HOWL! and GROWL! GROWL! GROWL!”; “Blue is the color of Scribble and Dribble and Nibble Nibble Nibble.” Other verses are more hit-or-miss—for example, one page tries to rhyme “splash” with “squash,” which may cause a stumble for adults reading aloud. However, all the monsters gyrate and boogie with exuberance, and their mixing of colors has exciting results. The small gray monsters become secondary colors, and one lucky little fellow who requests “SUPER tropical MEGA monster RAINBOW swirl with raspberry on TOP!” gets multicolored stripes and a rainbow parade to lead. Austin’s squiggly, untamed swirls of crayon, pencil and ink and the high energy in his casual style (complete with silliness: “Hey! Don’t eat your crayons, silly monster!”) may coax even the bounciest little monsters to sit down for storytime—and run for the crayons and poster paper afterwards.
Groovy. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-212594-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The flat ending is disappointing for a group of characters who could have exhibited a rousing rhythmic finale.
Just before showtime, the animals in the band must search for their instruments in the lost and found by their identifying sounds.
A mouse happily claims the trumpet after a congenial-looking rabbit clerk produces a bicycle horn, trumpet, and toy train in response to a request for an instrument that makes a “Toot! Toot! Toot!” sound. Similarly a beaver retrieves the triangle from an assortment of things that make a “Ding! Ding! Ding!” sound. An elephant and a squirrel find their piano and drum, and the band reassembles, led by their conductor, a bat. The animals’ questions are phrased in rhyming couplets: “The thing I lost goes Plink! Plank! Plunk! I play it with my big, long trunk,” explains the elephant. The simple, black-outlined cartoons against a white or pale yellow background extend the narrative so that readers are expected to discern objects with their corresponding sounds. The rabbit offers the elephant first a piggy bank (“Plink!”), then a flowerpot full of water (“Plank!”), and then a comically tiny piano (“Plunk!”). Unfortunately, as the band comes together, their meager performance reflects the bareness of this storyline. The bat ends the search and exclaims, “You found my things! They sound so grand. / One, two, three— // let’s hit it, band! / Toot! Ding! Plunk! Boom!”
The flat ending is disappointing for a group of characters who could have exhibited a rousing rhythmic finale. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-238068-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Funny though the illustrations are and loving though the text is, the book falls short due to lack of nuance.
Unabashed sentimentality dominates the text in this loving promise from a father to his child.
What saves this title from being just a syrupy pronouncement are the characters. Santat has good fun creating scenes for two hairy, horned monsters, the dad pickle green and the child a pleasing purple. The somewhat cuddly pair is comically shown participating in their less-than-ordinary activities like “having spaghetti for breakfast, French toast for dinner, and rocky road ice cream in the bathtub.” They play with robots, listen to really loud music, burp like champions and miss school to visit New York to share a hot dog. Readers will smile at the low-key humor in the pictures. The page stating, “Because I’m your dad, you can sometimes stay up late with me to watch TV” depicts the father asleep while the child sits on the sofa terrified by what is on the screen. Warm moments abound, as when little monster is rolled up by her father in a blanket like a burrito or when the dad checks the closet and under the bed for monsters. Zappa wrote this story for his daughter, and it overflows with genuine fatherly affection that he would like to pass on, since his father (avant-garde rocker Frank Zappa) did the same for him.
Funny though the illustrations are and loving though the text is, the book falls short due to lack of nuance. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: April 16, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4231-4774-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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