Tuneful.
Alligator Slim decides to swap the blues for jazz, trading the swamp for the city.
He finds a hotel and auditions at a club called The Zoo. The crowd loves Alligator’s sound, but while the musicians relax after their gig, jealous Weasel steals the gator’s sax. After a fruitless search for his instrument, his money low, Alligator decides to head back to the swamp and the blues. Swinging by The Zoo for one last listen, he spots Weasel on stage. “He screeched and he blared and the audience moaned. / ‘He’s hurting our ears with that bad saxophone!’ / ‘That sax is all right!’ said Alligator Slim. / He walked up to Weasel and snatched the sax from him.” Alligator plays, reigniting the crowd, and gracefully accepts Weasel’s apology. Alligator Slim’s success reaches the swamp critters, who arrive cityside to hear him play. Pittman’s upbeat verses occasionally settle for an awkward rhyme or some bumpy scansion. “Alligator Slim was in a terrible bind! / The days went by, but his sax he did not find.” Bailey’s digital compositions pair Alligator’s glowing green with the deep purple-browns of club crowds and dark, cobbled streets lit with lamps. Her pictures teem with busy, anthropomorphic animals preoccupied in amusing ways. Pittman provides a pithy note on jazz; Bailey’s spot illustration shows Alligator’s quartet heading out on the road.
Tuneful. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4556-2422-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pelican
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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