Laika, the Russian space dog, gets uneven handling.
Back when the Cold War was going strong and Nikita Khrushchev wanted to give JFK the yips, the Russians plucked a stray dog off the streets of Moscow—figuring the stray would be well-versed in survival tactics—and shot the dog into space in Sputnik 2. The spacecraft failed; the dog died. This last part is background information supplied in an author’s note. In the main narrative, Davey rewrites this part, sweeping Laika aboard a flying saucer and whisking her to a planet of people with red hair and blue skin. Otherwise, he stays close to the known history but with clunky prose for so romantic a story. “She trained very hard and had to pass many tests until finally... / Laika was ready to go into space. She climbed aboard her spaceship and waited.” It all comes up daisies in the end for Laika and Davey, the whole soft-pedaling given amplified sweetness by the artwork, a highly stylized gathering of strong color and shadow, loopy lines and angles, and for much of the book, the illustrations speak for themselves.
Half-cooked, with superior artwork trumping a drab, cowardly narrative. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6822-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
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Hee haw.
45
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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. 29, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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