Accept a slight current of illogic and enjoy this tale’s accomplished visuals and percussive rhymes.
A shark rhymes its perspective on the two human researchers who catch, tag, and release it from a “strange beast”—their boat.
“It stole me from the ocean, / and took me to the sky.” Hooked by a decoy fish, the shark avows, “I should warn you about the next page. / Because if you look, you might scream. // I saw the two scariest creatures I’ve ever seen.” Against a cloud-studded blue sky, Cortés depicts a black woman and a white man. After its release (alert readers might spy its post-encounter fin tag) the shark regales many, “from the whale / to anchovies,” all of whom scoff at its tale’s “complete impossibility.” Cortés’ premise has child appeal and even some STEM utility, and his lovely illustrations invite contemplation of the teeming worlds above and beneath the sea. The hip-hop–style rhymes yield a somewhat wobbly narrator, who conveys both an ignorance of humans and boats and a glib facility with “faces with beards,” “heads with two ears,” printed books, and the passage of two weeks’ time. The depictions of the curve of the Earth in space and of the sky—cloudy or starry, always vast—are lush, but their expansiveness seems aligned more with the artist’s expressive impulses than the shark’s-eye story arc.
Accept a slight current of illogic and enjoy this tale’s accomplished visuals and percussive rhymes. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-61775-616-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Black Sheep/Akashic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Hee haw.
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. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers.
Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
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