Imaginative, surprising fun.
A child walking a pet on a leash evokes strong reactions from passersby in this French Canadian import.
People on the street repeatedly point to a banana at the end of the leash, but the child insists that it is, in fact, a dog, exhorting them to see clearly and answering every comment they make. Banana’s yellow color indicates a very rare breed. She’s too exhausted to move and is well trained not to bark. She’s so upset over their comments that she just might bite them if they pet her. She fetches a ball so quickly that no one can see it happen. Annoyed at their laughter and disrespect, the child and Banana walk away in a huff. And then the onlookers are astonished by an incredible surprise twist, perhaps reminded about making snap judgments. Brief, staccato, often highly charged statements are attributed to the child or the commenters via slanted black lines drawn from the characters to their dialogue. Heavy, black-lined heads, faces, and legs form Sagramola’s seemingly simple, retro cartoon characters, while their clothed bodies are softly hued blocks of color. The pet owner is of unspecified gender and presents White. The crowd members are of varied gender, racial presentation, age, and color, with facial expressions and body language indicating their escalating reactions to the strange episode. Young readers will laugh in amazement and delight in that unanticipated conclusion.
Imaginative, surprising fun. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77164-793-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greystone Kids
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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