This patterned romp joins a genre-ette that utilizes a sort of “perverse psychology” to engage preschoolers. A girl narrator leaves home, eyes a-roll, opining against parents’ insistence on ceaselessly good manners. She wonders, “What if I were a pig?” After all, it’s “Very Rude” for a pig to be clean. “You have to get muddy or you get in trouble.” Lloyd-Jones pounces on preschoolers’ delight in twin, newfound skills: identifying opposites and spotting zany absurdity. Our lass imagines successive animals castigated for what passes as exemplary behavior in human kids. A snail would be as rude going fast as a monkey eating with knife and fork. Ex-Nick denizen Krall Photoshops saucer-eyed creatures, exuberant whether violating or complying with their true natures. His no-limits palette mixes slime-green, a tomato-fuchsia hybrid, sulphur-yellow, peacock blue and more. Embodying the trendy penchant for the willfully amoral ending, the climactic spreads feature the girl, now costumed, emulating a “perfectly terrible” (though quite innocuous) monster. In character, she arrives home for dinner without her manners—“(Because it’s only polite.)” Slight yet entertaining. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 12, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-375-84187-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009
Charming and thought-provoking proof that we all contain multitudes.
Oscar winner McConaughey offers intriguing life observations.
The series of pithy, wry comments, each starting with the phrase “Just because,” makes clear that each of us is a mass of contradictions: “Just because we’re friends, / doesn’t mean you can’t burn me. / Just because I’m stubborn, / doesn’t mean that you can’t turn me.” Witty, digitally rendered vignettes portray youngsters diverse in terms of race and ability (occasionally with pets looking on) dealing with everything from friendship drama to a nerve-wracking footrace. “Just because I’m dirty, / doesn’t mean I can’t get clean” is paired with an image of a youngster taking a bath while another character (possibly an older sibling) sits nearby, smiling. “Just because you’re nice, / doesn’t mean you can’t get mean” depicts the older one berating the younger one for tracking mud into the house. The artwork effectively brings to life the succinct, rhyming text and will help readers make sense of it. Perhaps, after studying the illustrations and gaining further insight into the comments, kids will reread and reflect upon them further. The final page unites the characters from earlier pages with a reassuring message for readers: “Just because the sun has set, / doesn’t mean it will not rise. / Because every day is a gift, / each one a new surprise. BELIEVE IT.” As a follow-up, readers should be encouraged to make their own suggestions to complete the titular phrase. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Charming and thought-provoking proof that we all contain multitudes. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9780593622032
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
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