A fantastic entry into the kid-and-monster-friendship subgenre.
A child encounters a creature from Filipino folklore and makes a surprising new discovery in author/illustrator Valdez’s picture-book debut.
Bunso (whose name is a Tagalog word for a family’s youngest sibling) is scared of the stories that his sister, or Ate, tells him about a creature called the Mumu, who “likes to punish kids who misbehave by sucking the fun outta everything!” Mom, Dad, and Bunso’s Kuya (brother) scold him for drawing on the walls, not eating dinner, and playing Kuya’s video games without permission; all say that the Mumu will get him. Bunso decides to try to defeat the Mumu; he does research and prepares equipment to confront it. But when Bunso traps the Mumu, it turns out to be an adorable ghost who wants a friend and another shot at enjoying life. Valdez draws on Filipino folklore he learned from his own family to create a fun, mischievous tale for young readers. He works Tagalog terms into the text seamlessly, and Bunso’s narration reads in an authentically childlike voice. Valdez’s comic-style drawings are reminiscent of Cartoon Network programs but also have the sensibility of Bill Watterson’s "Calvin and Hobbes," particularly in its depiction of the instant friendship between Bunso and misunderstood Mumu. Children struggling with fears of monsters under the bed may be comforted by Mumu’s adorableness.
A fantastic entry into the kid-and-monster-friendship subgenre.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-9997050-4-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Jesse Byrd Jr
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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