A unique celebration of playful creativity.
Asked to find specific items for her friends, a well-intentioned magpie seems to get it all wrong—or does she?
Adept at “finding things,” the magpie asks her friends if there’s anything she can find for them. Weary of winter, the goat asks for “spring!” but is not amused when the magpie presents a metal spring. Feeling lonely, the mouse wants “another mouse” and is very disappointed with the computer mouse the magpie locates. The homeless hog wants “a pen of my very own” to live in, not the ballpoint pen the magpie finds. The hungry squirrel asks for a “nut” to eat, not the bit of hardware the magpie retrieves. After asking for a “pair of glasses,” the farsighted owl’s surprised when the magpie returns with drinking glasses. And the boy who asks for a baseball “bat” is terrified with the live bat the magpie tosses him. How could the magpie get everything so wrong? But with some “creative thinking,” the magpie’s friends eventually “turn blunders into wonders!” With its clever wordplay, the text humorously introduces the concept of homonyms. These are explained in a “Did You Know?” section in the backmatter while the “About the Art” section details how scrap artist Hundley assembled found objects on white backgrounds to produce the intriguing, striking illustrations, which appropriately reinforce the magpie’s penchant for finding things.
A unique celebration of playful creativity. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: March 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-6844-6214-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Capstone Editions
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Filled with love and kindness and glorious sweet-talk: “Yippee-i-oh.” (Fiction. 6-9)
Leroy Ninker dreams of being an honest-to-goodness cowboy as he watches Western movies while working at the concession stand at the drive-in theater.
He has some of the lingo down pat, and he knows he will need boots, a hat and a lasso. But his co-worker points out that he is missing the most important element of all: a horse. Providentially, there is a horse for sale. Though she is swaybacked and almost toothless, it is love at first sight when Leroy sees Maybelline. Leroy is given some unusual instructions; he must sweet-talk and compliment the horse, feed her plenty of grub and never leave her alone for more than a few moments. So there he is with a horse that won’t fit through his door, gobbles up potfuls of spaghetti and needs constant attention. Adventures and misadventures abound, and both horse and cowboy become lost in a scary storm. But with a little help from some old friends who have appeared in the author-illustrator team’s earlier works, it all comes together with the expected happy ending. DiCamillo’s quirky, eccentric characters speak in flowery sentiments and employ charming wordplay. Along with Van Dusen’s well-matched illustrations, there’s a sweet, retro innocence reminiscent of McCloskey’s classic Homer Price. Despite the old-fashioned accent, the absurdities will easily appeal to a modern audience.
Filled with love and kindness and glorious sweet-talk: “Yippee-i-oh.” (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6339-1
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Hooray, hooray for this par-tay.
Five more stories featuring buddy pair Fox and Rabbit.
Following the formula of its predecessors, this third installment of the Fox & Rabbit series focuses on Sparrow’s “super-trooper special” birthday. A slightly unrelated opening story introduces a variety of animal characters as Fox—proudly adopting the moniker “Fix-it Fox”—goes around trying to solve everyone’s “enormous problems.” In the next story, Fox and Rabbit scheme to make the “biggest, roundest, yummiest pizza in the world.” They pilfer ingredients from Sparrow’s garden (a nod to the first book) and ask Mouse for mozzarella. Subsequent stories—each contained in a chapter—involve a pizza-cooking dragon, the “really awesome” party, and a birthday wish that finally comes true. Dudás’ full-color cartoon illustrations complement Ferry’s chipper tone and punny dialogue for an upbeat woodland romp. Even the turtle, who always comically arrives at the end of the chapter and misses most of the action, gets to enjoy the party. Another standout scene, in which Fox assumes Dragon doesn’t speak their language and speaks “Dragonian” unprompted, gently addresses microaggressions. Though all dialogue is clearly linked to each speaker, some scenes with lots of back and forth within a single panel gear this to comics readers with a bit of experience. Still, the eight-panel–per-page max and short chapters keep the text accessible and pace quick.
Hooray, hooray for this par-tay. (Graphic early reader. 6-9)Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-5183-7
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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