Tongue-in-cheek humor and stylized illustrations should make this appealing to sophisticated young listeners.
In this French import, a natty group of animal friends congregates on the back of Fossil the crocodile, engaging in everyday activities while piling on top of one another in various configurations.
Fossil, a long, light-green crocodile wearing a checked shirt, striped pants, and black-and-white spectator shoes, poses peacefully in the first double-page spread. Readers are told that he “loves the quiet.” His tranquility is short-lived, however, as his friends traipse toward him in a slow parade. From Fippo the hippo all the way to Otto the octopus, all of the animals are named and pictured on the endpapers, except for one who shows up on the copyright page. They advance from the left and climb up on Fossil and one another. Meanwhile, the slyly humorous text continues to describe Fossil’s preference for “be[ing] alone. / Away from all the racket and hubbub.” Given the limited, albeit ironically amusing, text and relatively static illustrations, apparently created in pen and ink and colored pencil, the book’s appeal relies on close examination of the pictures’ quirky details. Colors are mostly muted, but pattern abounds, adding interest. The revelation that “Crocodiles are “quick…[and] fierce…even in books!” may inspire a frisson of suspense, but Fossil’s friends (and readers) are quickly reassured.
Tongue-in-cheek humor and stylized illustrations should make this appealing to sophisticated young listeners. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61689-610-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
The runaway cookie in this Mexican bakery is a soft, brown, stubby-tailed piglet as impertinently bold and smug in his continual escape as his Gingerbread Boy cousin. “Chase me! Chase me down the street. But this is one piggy you won’t get to eat! / ¡Córrele, córrele! ¡Y Córrele más! ¡Soy el cochinito que jamás comerás!” This bouncy dual refrain extends the familiar cumulative text, rendered in both English and Spanish, as piggy manages to elude Marta the baker, Lorenzo the mechanic, Mamá Nita the beautician, Joaquín the telephone repairman and a host of other neighborhood adults—until he is outsmarted by Rosa, a little girl on her way to school, who foxily “helps him” cross the street. Safely tucked into her backpack, piggy is both a welcome surprise and an excuse for Rosa’s lateness to class. Deep opaque acrylic paintings of a colorful barrio and its residents in pursuit add the right amount of cultural flavor to this vivid Latino retelling. Recipe appended. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55885-586-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
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