Lots of stories address getting a dog, but this tale recounts practical steps in successfully working toward a goal, with...
Sisters Cadence and Emi use both logical and creative approaches to convince their dad they should be allowed to adopt a puppy.
The bubbly little girls are full of reasons for a puppy, but their firm but fair father is just as full of explanations why the girls aren’t ready for the responsibilities of dog ownership. The steps to successful achievement of a difficult goal and management of negotiations between opposing sides are skillfully woven into the story, with key vocabulary words highlighted in boldface type. The sisters draw up a written plan to achieve their goal and address each point of their numbered list in some way. The girls take care of a neighbor’s dog, research different dog breeds, and create their own book about the value of owning a dog. Their efforts result in their father’s admission that his daughters have shown they can be “persistent, responsible, smart, and creative.” Together, girls and dad choose an appealing puppy from a shelter. Cheerful, cartoon-style illustrations capture the warm atmosphere of this single-parent household, complemented by lots of display type in varying sizes and colors.
Lots of stories address getting a dog, but this tale recounts practical steps in successfully working toward a goal, with the kids solving their own problem. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 30, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-229261-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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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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