Farmer Doogie is a good and handy—and busy soul. In this call-and-response book for the very young, Curry (Nosy Rosy, not reviewed, etc.) draws him in broad strokes and flat planes of soft color: cream of tomato red, washed browns and greens. “What does Farmer Doogie do?” is asked on every other page. Why, the answer is: he collects eggs, counts sheep, picks apples, and opens his farm stand. And when a rascally crow drops an apple core down the exhaust pipe of Farmer Doogie’s tractor and the engine goes cough-cough, he gets his tools and fixes that tractor. He fixes the crow, too (which is now eating the seed in Farmer Doogie’s field) by making a scarecrow to put the bird to flight. Curry has given both the text and the illustrations a generous dose of warmth, from the white whiskers in Farmer Doogie’s chin, to the lively company of farmer animals that accompany Farmer Doogie on his rounds, to the scarecrow, which might scare the crow but surely not the young readers, who ought to be clamoring for a visit to the local farm by the close of this title. (Picture book. 2-4)
Pub Date: June 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-00-664741-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins UK/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name.
A brief rhyming board book for toddlers.
Spurr's earlier board books (In the Garden and At the Beach, both 2012; In the Woods, 2013) featured an adventuresome little boy. Her new slice-of-life story stars an equally joyful little girl who takes pleasure in flying a new kite while not venturing far off the walkway. Oliphant's expressive and light-filled watercolors clearly depict the child's emotions—eager excitement on the way to the park, delight at the kite's flight in the wind, shock when the kite breaks free, dejection, and finally relief and amazement. The rhymes work, though uneven syllable counts in some stanzas interrupt the smooth flow of the verse. The illustrations depict the child with her mass of windblown curls, brown skin, and pronounced facial features as African-American. Her guardian (presumably her mother) is also brown-skinned. It is refreshing to see an African-American family settled comfortably in a suburban setting with single-family homes and a park where the family dog does not need to be leashed.
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56145-854-7
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
In this entry in the Growing Tree series, the publisher copyrights the text, while Carpenter provides illustrations for the story; here, the three billy goats named Gruff play on a nasty troll’s greed to get where the grass is greenest. Logic has never been the long suit of this tale: Instead of letting the two smaller billy goats be terrorized by the mean and ugly troll, children wonder, why doesn’t the biggest billy goat step in sooner? It’s still a good introduction to comparatives, and the repetitiveness of the story invites participation. The artwork matches the story: The characters are suitably menacing, quivering, or stalwart, and the perspectives allow readers to be right there in the thick of the action. (Picture book. 2-4)
Pub Date: June 30, 1998
ISBN: 0-694-01033-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HarperFestival
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
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