Clifford crafts a Wild West burpfest for his first solo outing, pitting well-established soda-fountain kings Frothy and Fruity in a shake-off against newly arrived, Stetson-topped milk-bar impresario Rodeo Ron and his corps of bovine dispensers. But it’s no contest: As the belching, brown-toothed residents of Cavity look on in delight, each cow does her thing—“She bucked . . . and she bronked, she shivered and she shook, and she went SHAKE! SHAKE! SHAKE!”—to produce a frothy, fantastic fruit milkshake. In the end, Frothy and Fruity explode with frustration, not to mention gas. Done up in appropriate colors—red for strawberry, blue for blueberry, and so on—Ron’s horned helpers sashay through the cartoon scenes, leaving happy Cavityites with bright, newly white smiles. Though driven less by a nutritional agenda than by the pleasures of bright colors and cavorting cattle, there is a point, of sorts, here, painlessly presented. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: May 24, 2005
ISBN: 0-375-83195-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING
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Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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A craving for the latest tech leads to cat-astrophe in this new addition to the Bad Kitty series.
With her heart set on owning a cellphone, anthropomorphic house cat Kitty plows through three solid months of chores without complaining before her owners reluctantly grant her fervent wish. Then things go rapidly downhill. She becomes obsessed with violent mobile games, gets catfished (no pun intended), divulges too much personal information online, becomes consumed with rage at cyberbullies, and grows listless from excessive screen time. Only after the intervention of a Sphynx cat named Strange Kitty and a monthlong technology fast enforced by her owners does Kitty come to understand that while smartphones are fun, they can also be a serious distraction from real life and true friends. Using a digestible graphic-novel format, the book tackles internet safety and digital media literacy with purr-fect aplomb. The “Uncle Murray’s Fun Facts” section serves as a deep dive into the differences between facts and opinions, and many of Kitty’s quirky feline behaviors ring true. It’s unfortunate that the word lame—a disability-related term with negative connotations—is used by the internet trolls who deride the video Kitty makes and posts on “ViewTube.” Occasional misstep aside, Kitty’s tribulations provide ample fodder for this instructive and amusing tale.
A hilarious but enlightening guide to the online world—the good, the bad, and the ugly. (Graphic novel. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-74996-3
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
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