An inspiring debut that highlights the importance of individuality and courage.
A boy ventures into the woods and witnesses the magical power of dance in this picture book.
While wandering in a forest, a youngster encounters “a grizzly bear dancing nimbly,” a “red fox twirling around a tree,” and a “bison teaching ballet” to other woodland creatures. The boy is introduced to both common animals (such as squirrels and raccoons) and rarely spotted ones (bighorn sheep, porcupines, and others), and he learns terms and movements associated with classical ballet, such as relevésand Pas de bourrées.” Soon, all the animals join a collective dance, and soon, “leaping lumberjacks” add some moves of their own. The little boy acknowledges that one can be both “strong and brave, and like ballet too.” Debut author MacElroy offers a quaint picture book that questions gender stereotypes via artful dance instruction. She indicates an essential harmony that people and animals share and hints that music has the ability to bring people together. The layout of the text is consistent throughout, resulting in a lovely flow that’s easy to follow. The subtle rhymes create an engaging story, while Dillard’s illustrations will capture readers with their detail and vibrant hues.
An inspiring debut that highlights the importance of individuality and courage.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-989819-22-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Golden Brick Road Publishing House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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