Firefighter-loving kids will jump over candlesticks to get their hands on these cute and capable emergency workers.
When there’s a fire to be tackled, only a qualified nursery-rhyme crew will do!
Pink-coiffed Mother Goose may look demure when reading in her House of Rhyme, but when there is danger, she springs into action! The Queen of Tarts is facing a bakery fire, so it’s up to the famous fowl and her crew of multiracial nursery-rhyme characters to put it out. After “gear[ing] up in forty seconds flat,” everyone races to the fire. At the blaze, they display a wide array of different firefighting techniques, including the use of water cannons, a fire ax, dirt, a bucket brigade, and helicopters with bucket scoops (loaded with jam). The familiar stars of everyone’s favorite rhymes pair nicely with this technical know-how of equipment and expertise. Chief M. Goose herself commands from a “high-tech rig” tricked out with radios and a satellite. Rhymes scan consistently, and female-presenting characters are given just as much agency as their male-presenting counterparts. Insider nursery-rhyme jokes also abound. For example, the last readers see of the heroic squad, they’re heading off to answer an emergency call from Ladybug. One might quibble about the fact that dumping jam on a fire would almost certainly intensify it, but in the end the book’s having too much fun to care. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 22% of actual size.)
Firefighter-loving kids will jump over candlesticks to get their hands on these cute and capable emergency workers. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-09357-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
Avast, me mateys! This be good clean fun on the salty seas.
Using one’s imagination is a lot easier when everybody is on board.
“What are you playing?” an amused parent asks a small child. The little one cries out resolutely, “I’M NOT PLAYING!” After all, a storm is on its way, and it’s time to fit out the ship. The adult’s gentle protestations (“Um, I kind of need to vacuum the rug”) are no match for the undeniable fact that the rug is, in fact, the ocean. Soon enough the two are raising the mainsail, swabbing the poop deck, hoisting the burgee, and more (a helpful glossary of sailing terms is included). In spite of the occasional cell phone interruption (the child, facedown on the rug, laments, “We are in the doldrums” when the adult takes a call), all is put right when the adult gets back into the spirit of things, fielding an attack against a giant squid (aka the vacuum cleaner). Rescues, distress signals, hungry sharks—it all adds up to a wonderful time. That rug is never getting vacuumed. Blackall slips with ease between fantasy and reality, and young readers will have oodles of fun watching as socks morph into seagulls and paper towel tubes become telescopes. It’s also nice to see a book where the notion of turning off your cell phone is aimed more directly at the parents than the kids. All characters are light-skinned.
Avast, me mateys! This be good clean fun on the salty seas. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593429396
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Anne Schwartz/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
A brassy, assertive fellow—young readers in the middle of their own power struggles will relate.
A tugboat’s size and might are easy to anthropomorphize; add this personified puffer to the mix.
Tough Tug is built near Seattle, made of strong steel welded together and adorned with a fresh coat of bright red paint. Wide googly eyes and a determined smile complete the look. On launch day, Tough Tug triumphantly flashes forward and backward, twirling and swirling through the water. Older tugboats (distinguished variously by mustaches, glasses, and eye patches) grumble at the youngster’s bravado. “Push and pull is what tugs do. Practice THAT.” Tough Tug’s first job is to tow a barge to Alaska. Rhythmic mantras churn across the surface of the water in bold navy letters: “Ready, steady. / Steady, ready. // Chug and tug. / Tug and chug.” But Tough Tug is overeager and challenges Arctic Tug to a race. The thrum changes to “Race and run! / Run and race!” Arctic Tug is first to Sitka, but while crossing the open ocean to Anchorage, the older tug gets into trouble. It’s Tough Tug to the rescue! McClurkan’s digital paintings look quite modern, but there is a feel to his foamy waves that recalls the mid-20th-century harbor of Little Toot. The anthropomorphized boats have plenty of personality, and readers who study the expressions on the container ships will be rewarded. An author’s note explains this was inspired by a true story of one tug rescuing another boat from a competing tugboat company.
A brassy, assertive fellow—young readers in the middle of their own power struggles will relate. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5039-5098-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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