A winning display of finding the high ground and paved with particularly sweet verbal compression. (Picture book. 3-6)
It comes as a delight how much fun can be wrung from the words "moo" and "hoo."
Cow and Owl are young chums (and bear a keen resemblance to Frog and Rabbit, the spawn of Ryan and Lowery's terrific first collaboration, Ribbit Rabbit, 2011). Being what they are, the words moo and hoo spin freely in their orbit and trigger like words depending on what they are doing. They fix things together: "Moo Hoo. Glue Shoe." They trick-or-treat together: "Moo Hoo. Boo! Boo!" Although Ryan fills in some narrative context, it is these tiny, rhymed sound-words that express the emotional range of the story, which is whopping in its brevity (aided and abetted by Lowery's dear, spindly creatures, with their disarming gestures and primitive toys). When a young kangaroo enters the scene—"Who you?" "Roo new"—Cow and Owl are standoffish. Roo wants to join in—"Roo too?"—but no deal. "Roo blue." It breaks your heart. Cow and Owl do see the error in their ways, and Kangaroo enters the fold. "Woo hoo!"
A winning display of finding the high ground and paved with particularly sweet verbal compression. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8027-2336-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
As implied by the title, the Hokey Pokey takes on a decidedly amphibian tone in this sprightly, cheerful selection, which is filled to the brim with kid appeal. As the song begins, children are invited to join the frogs and follow the traditional lyrics and movements (“Put your right hand in, / Put your right hand out”) until they’ve waved said appendage all about, but then the words change: “Hop the Croaky Pokey / As we chase a fly around, / Right in the froggy’s mouth! / WHAP!” Lively, cartoonish illustrations feature animals at a pond, including a number of frogs (in a delightful variety of greens), none of whom, it turns out, is particularly skilled at catching bugs. As the song continues, hilarity ensues as the blissfully ignorant target fly remains just out of reach, despite all the frogs’ best efforts. But luck like this can’t possibly last forever—can it? Children will giggle throughout, especially at the surprise ending, and will be singing and dancing along in seconds flat. A nice choice for school and home and a good choice for reluctant readers, full of energy, humor and fun. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2291-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
Readers will close this book loving their small part of the world a little more.
This picture book seems to contain everything in the world.
Everything in this story is connected to everything else. An acorn, held by a child, appears on the opening pages: “Within it grows a forest.” Following a spread of trees in a wood, we’re told, “And within that forest / towers an oak tree, tall and grand.” Scientifically minded adults may be reminded of an atom, too small to see but filled with quarks and neutrons and electrons. Later, the child catches a raindrop and starts to imagine where it came from—from “the depths of the sea” to a rain cloud to the child’s hand, and if it had landed back in the ocean, it might have kept traveling to a distant shore. Conti’s illustrations show the child watching that shore through a spyglass. Some of the items in the illustrations are a little frightening, like the rain cloud, painted in the heaviest blues and grays and blacks. But they’re beautiful, too. The fields of grass appear to contain every shade of green. Every item in the book, even a grain of sand, is as beautiful in both its simplicity and complexity. The child and other characters who appear are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Readers will close this book loving their small part of the world a little more. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 9780762479870
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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