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DINNER FOR EIGHT

Name: DINNER FOR EIGHT
Author: Roger De Muth
ISBN: 978-1-934706-55-8

by Roger De Muth and illustrated by Roger De Muth ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2009

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Many hands make a luscious international feast. Octopus plans a dinner for eight: “Please be on time and don’t arrive late!” With an international guest list, he prepares a variety of offbeat entrees. This culinary lift-the-flap book sometimes has Octopus’s multiple tentacles working at once—in the kitchen finding hay in one cupboard, a jar of flies in another and a plant in the refrigerator while checking on several colorful fish that are cooking in the oven. At the dinner party, each dish is a clever (yucky) concoction, waiting behind flaps to be revealed by young listeners. There’s eucalyptus leaf stew for Kal Kangaroo, worm sauerkraut for Berthe Birdie, housefly soufflé for François Le Frog, and so on. Dessert is the pièce de résistance all right, although its composition defies the gustatory logic that’s gone before. But there’s no denying that the lift-the-flap design always delights young would-be readers, and De Muth goes the extra mile with humorous surprises under each flap. (Picture book. 2-5)

Pub Date: June 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-1-934706-55-8

Page Count: 20

Publisher: Blue Apple

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2009

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
MESSY BESSIE
by Harriet Ziefert & illustrated by Roger De Muth

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A KISSING HAND FOR CHESTER RACCOON

From the Kissing Hand series

by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2014

Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original...

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A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand.

As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school.

Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: April 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-933718-77-4

Page Count: 14

Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing

Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
CHESTER RACCOON AND THE ALMOST PERFECT SLEEPOVER
by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson

- BOOK REVIEW
KAI TO THE RESCUE!
by Audrey Penn ; illustrated by Mike Yamada

- BOOK REVIEW
A COLOR GAME FOR CHESTER RACCOON
by Audrey Penn & illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson

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ON THE FARM

by David Elliott & illustrated by Holly Meade ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2008

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Energetic woodcuts accompany playfully simple poems as they give young readers an engaging tour of the barnyard. From the usual suspects—rooster, cow, sheep—to some of the less celebrated denizens of the farm—snake, bees, turtle—each poem varies to suit its subject. The barn cat’s verse is succinct: “Mice / had better / think twice.” The snake’s winds its way down the page in sinuous shape. At their best, Elliott’s images are unexpected and all the more lovely: The turtle “Lifts her fossil head / and blinks / one, two, three / times in the awful light.” Others are not so successful, but Meade’s illustrations give them credence: The rooster “Crows and struts. / He’s got feathers! / He’s got guts!” This rhythmic but rather opaque assertion is accompanied by an oversized rooster who dominates the foreground; eyes shut in concentration, he levitates himself with the force of his crow—the very embodiment of “guts.” Farmyard books are a dime a dozen, but this one is a worthwhile addition, for those poems that reach beyond the ordinary and for the good-natured illustrations that complement them. (Picture book/poetry. 2-5)