by Richard Saunders ; illustrated by Phil Gerard Godin ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2017
A pleasant, humorous animal tale that celebrates both courage and kindness.
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A large-eared mouse recounts how he came to play a starring role on an American spaceship in this debut children’s book.
An English professor is enjoying polishing his BMW one day when he discovers a talking mouse in the trunk. Bert M. Whisperfoot—BMW for short—resembles a typical mouse in some ways, but he speaks in a deep voice and uses a red headband to tie back his enormous ears. It takes a bit of time (and some Gorgonzola cheese) before BMW opens up, and the professor is, like the mouse, all ears. BMW was born in China but wanted to escape being teased for his big ears, so he studied diligently, learned English, and traveled to America. When scientists discovered his keen hearing, they recruited him to listen for extraterrestrial messages from a spaceship. That didn’t pan out, but he did overhear bad guys planning to set off a bomb and warned authorities in time—earning a presidential medal and a retirement party. In his book, Saunders presents a bold adventurer in BMW; for example, even before his space exploration, the mouse daringly stowed away in a woman’s handbag to reach America. Yet alongside its derring-do, the story is suffused with a gentle spirit and good humor. Despite his achievements, BMW is lonely, and the professor is a good, compassionate listener; once he knows that slamming the car door hurts the mouse’s ears, he never does it again. Similarly, it’s congenial to see how BMW and Gordon the cat strike up an affectionate friendship. But Godin’s bland digital illustrations don’t possess the story’s charm and can be awkward, including depicting a canine-looking cat and what appears to be lipstick on the professor.
A pleasant, humorous animal tale that celebrates both courage and kindness.Pub Date: July 21, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5434-3772-0
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2010
Hee haw.
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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. 28, 2018
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by Stan Kirby & illustrated by George O'Connor ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 3, 2012
As Captain Awesome would say, this kid is “MI-TEE!” (Fiction. 5-8)
The town of Sunnyview got a little bit safer when 8-year-old Eugene McGillicudy moved in.
Just like his comic-book mentor, Super Dude, Eugene, aka Captain Awesome, is on a one-man mission is to save the world from supervillains, like the nefarious “Queen Stinkypants from Planet Baby.” Just as Eugene suspected, plenty of new supervillains await him at Sunnyview Elementary. Are Meredith Mooney and the mind-reading Ms. Beasley secretly working together to try and force Eugene to reveal his secret identity? Will Principal Brick Foot succeed in throwing Captain Awesome into the “Dungeon of Detention?” Fortunately, Eugene isn’t forced to go it alone. Charlie Thomas Jones, fellow comic-book lover and Super Dude fan, stands ready and willing to help. When the class hamster goes missing, Captain Awesome must don his cape and, with the help of his new best friend, ride to the rescue. Kirby’s funny and engaging third-person narration and O’Connor’s hilarious illustrations make the book easily accessible and enormously appealing, particularly to readers who have recently graduated to chapter books. But it is the quirky, mischievous Eugene that really makes this book special. His energy and humor are contagious, and his dogged commitment to his superhero alter ego is enough to make anyone a believer.
As Captain Awesome would say, this kid is “MI-TEE!” (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: April 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-4090-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2012
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