Kids with a taste for gross-out humor will laugh themselves sick. A real stinker, in the best possible sense.
Who stole the World Famous Rotten Egg? Something about this theft smells fishy (not to mention stinky, icky, and gross!).
Disaster strikes on opening day of the Museum of Very Bad Smells. Who took the museum’s most anticipated exhibit? Was it Herman, the pickled herring, or Pickles, the wet dog? Was it Beetle, the dung artist, or TJ, the mouse with a foul past? Or was it you? One of the museum’s workers, an adorable, uniform-clad hamster, leads the other characters—and readers—on a zany chase through the super-smelly exhibits to sniff out the culprit. Along the way, they encounter disgusting smells sure to have kids dissolving into fits of giggles, from farts to barf to old sneakers to stinky cheese. Readers will be even more delighted to experience some of these odors for themselves, as several pages feature scratch ’n’ sniff patches. With cartoon flair, the story is told entirely through speech bubbles and energetic visuals. Watching the characters zip around the museum keeps the action speeding forward and heightens the suspense. Our hamster hero intermittently breaks the fourth wall to invite readers to help solve the mystery. This tale is engaging, fast-paced, and full of nonstop potty humor—even reluctant readers will find it hard to resist.
Kids with a taste for gross-out humor will laugh themselves sick. A real stinker, in the best possible sense. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: July 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780063271449
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Yes, the Pigeon has to go to school, and so do readers, and this book will surely ease the way.
All the typical worries and excuses kids have about school are filtered through Willems’ hysterical, bus-loving Pigeon.
Told mostly in speech balloons, the bird’s monologue will have kids (and their caregivers) in stitches at Pigeon’s excuses. From already knowing everything (except whatever question readers choose to provide in response to “Go ahead—ask me a question. / Any question!”) to fearing learning too much (“My head might pop off”), Pigeon’s imagination has run wild. Readers familiar with Pigeon will recognize the muted, matte backgrounds that show off the bird’s shenanigans so well. As in previous outings, Willems varies the size of the pigeon on the page to help communicate emotion, the bird teeny small on the double-page spread that illustrates the confession that “I’m… / scared.” And Pigeon’s eight-box rant about all the perils of school (“The unknown stresses me out, dude”) is marvelously followed by the realization (complete with lightbulb thought bubble) that school is the place for students to practice, with experts, all those skills they don’t yet have. But it is the ending that is so Willems, so Pigeon, and so perfect. Pigeon’s last question is “Well, HOW am I supposed to get there, anyway!?!” Readers will readily guess both the answer and Pigeon’s reaction.
Yes, the Pigeon has to go to school, and so do readers, and this book will surely ease the way. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-04645-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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