This Dutch import offers a sweet and funny twist on the bedtime book.
Will the morning never come?
After his customary all-night flight, Owl returns home quite drowsy; in fact, he’s so sleepy that he takes a wrong turn and ends up in an attic instead of his nest. (This is furnished with a tiny grandfather clock and canopy bed in the illustration, which makes it quite clear how he goes wrong). When he wakes up, he's alarmed to find that it's still dark. What's more, "the forest" is full of weird things, like a toy train and an old couch and a humongous grandfather clock. Did the sun forget to wake up? He looks everywhere and finally finds it. (The illustrations show that it’s actually a round mirror in the shape of the sun, with carved rays for a frame.) He tries, without success, to wake it up, pushing “the world” (a globe) over to it and turning the attic light on to help it remember its job. Of course, while all this is happening, time is passing, and as if by magic, the sun finally appears. "Hooray!" It's been a long night. Owl settles into his tree-branch bed for a well-deserved sleep. Enzerink's premise is clever, though the story's end is a bit of a letdown after Owl’s bumbling. The fun is in Rauwerda's painterly illustrations; warm and beautifully composed, they teem with child-friendly details that clue readers in to Owl’s mistake.
This Dutch import offers a sweet and funny twist on the bedtime book. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-935954-43-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lemniscaat USA
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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BOOK REVIEW
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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BOOK REVIEW
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