Hilda Snibbs cares for Tim, Sam, and Lulu, three lively monkeys.
One morning the well-turned-out white woman leaves her elegant home to buy bananas. The simian siblings grow bored, so they look in the hall closet for something to play with, and they find umbrellas, shoes and boots, and fancy hats. “When Hilda came home she found the most dreadful mess.” She tells them how disappointed she is; they just stare with their big, round eyes. When she goes to buy a hat the next day, the living room is the scene of the next mess. There is a shopping trip for wool the following day, and the kitchen falls prey. The next day, it’s the bathroom. Hilda warns them sternly before she leaves to visit her sick mother. She returns to a clean house. Oh no! Where can the monkeys be? Weeping, Hilda goes to the closet for a dry hanky—and finds her charges. That night she finds her bed full of silverware and tinned sardines. “But that is the sort of thing you have to expect if you have three little monkeys.” British illustrator Blake here supplies the words for Chichester Clark, his former student at the Royal College of Art. The duo’s first outing together is a charming story of patient devotion. Chichester Clark’s bright and lively mixed-media illustrations are full of patterns, detail, and adorable, mischievous monkeys.
Children may not recognize themselves herein, but their caregivers will see their little monkeys. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-267067-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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Hee haw.
19
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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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Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both!
Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. “Duck said, loud as he could quack it, / ‘THUNDER’S JUST A NOISY RACKET!’ ” In the quiet after the storm, the barnyard friends are sleepy, but the garage is not their home. “ ‘Beep!’ said Blue. ‘Just hop inside. / All aboard for the bedtime ride!’ ” Young readers will settle down for their own bedtimes as Blue and Toad drop each friend at home and bid them a good night before returning to the garage and their own beds. “Blue gave one small sleepy ‘Beep.’ / Then Little Blue Truck fell fast asleep.” Joseph’s rich nighttime-blue illustrations (done “in the style of [series co-creator] Jill McElmurry”) highlight the power of the storm and capture the still serenity that follows. Little Blue Truck has been chugging along since 2008, but there seems to be plenty of gas left in the tank.
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-85213-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION
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