In Bad Kitty's return, she attempts to answer one critical question: “What the heck is that thing?”
In the beginning was Kitty. She was alone, and she liked it that way. Dark times arrived with the stinky, leaking, omnipresent Puppy; Kitty reconciled herself to that travesty. But after Kitty and Puppy spend a brief and ill-advised time in the guardianship of Uncle Murray, IT comes home with the humans. It plays, it stinks, it drools; Kitty is sure it’s a dog. When all her friends come over for a special round of Pussycat Olympics, they conclude IT is a New Kitty. (A Bad Kitty Screaming Temper Tantrum ensues). Will Bad Kitty have a change of heart once she learns the origins of the family’s new arrival? Bruel’s fourth long-form tale of Bad Kitty (Bad Kitty vs. Uncle Murray, 2010, etc.) offers his trademark spastic black-and-white illustrations in full-bleed and spots with plenty of baby and cat sounds in dialogue bubbles (translated into English where necessary). Uncle Murray’s Fun Facts return with occasional chapters on cat climbing and getting stuck in trees. There is plenty of slapstick, a few silly dream sequences and the obligatory gross bits. An appendix on cat training rounds out Bad Kitty’s Baby encounter.
Further proof that Bad Kitty can be good…especially in the eyes of her many fans. (Humor. 6-10)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-597-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is rather a silly story, and I don't believe children will think it particularly funny. A paper hanger and painter finds time on his hands in winter, and spends it in reading of arctic exploration. It is all given reality when he receives a present of a penguin, which makes its nest in the refrigerator on cubes of ice, mates with a lonely penguin from the zoo, and produces a family of penguins which help set the Poppers on their feet.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1938
ISBN: 978-0-316-05843-8
Page Count: 139
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1938
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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