MOM, THERE'S A BEAR AT THE DOOR

Verbal and visual humor abound.

A bear, a mother, and her child have lively two-way conversations.

Endpapers set a humorous tone with their depiction of bear tracks on an old-fashioned tiled floor. Readers then meet a big bear trying to hide behind a tree. They are invited to share in his escapade as he is next seen in an apartment house. Quiet, he signals, and the deadpan fun continues. A child, dialogue in black, announces that “there’s a bear at the door!” Mom answers, her dialogue in red, “But we live on the eleventh floor!” “That’s why he’s there,” says the child. (Duh.) The verbal mayhem continues as logic is stretched. The bear takes the bus and yes, he has a ticket, because how else could he board the bus? He is on their floor because he wants to see the sea. He can’t do that in the forest where he lives, which is why he has to look out their window. His objective met, he enjoys Black Forest cake, and then the bear and the child, properly helmeted, bus and bicycle back to the forest to enjoy a cozy nap. Lipan’s text, translated from German, recalls the rhythmic cadences of Remy Charlip’s classic Fortunately. Olten’s colorful, full-bleed artwork with reds and greens predominating imbues the characters with barrelfuls of personality.

Verbal and visual humor abound. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-8028-5460-5

Page Count: 34

Publisher: Eerdmans

Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015

Categories:

DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE SLEIGH!

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

Awards & Accolades

Likes

  • Readers Vote
  • 66


Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT


  • IndieBound Bestseller

THE WONKY DONKEY

Hee haw.

Awards & Accolades

Likes

  • Readers Vote
  • 66


Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT


  • IndieBound Bestseller

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

Categories:
Close Quickview