The action appropriately snowballs in this uproariously funny seasonal romp.
In this children’s book, animals take over a house left empty during Christmas.
The night before traveling for the holiday, Katy Randall spies a frog shivering at the window. Leaving the next morning, the girl accidentally drops her mitten, propping the front door open. The frog moves in to enjoy a nice, warm, quiet house, but then a host of animals—beavers, bears, rabbits, owls, and more—discovers the open door. The frog lays down some house rules (clean up your mess; no eating anyone) to cope. On Christmas Day, the animals throw a huge party and are almost caught by people looking through the window. Thinking fast, the creatures pose like Santa, his sleigh, and his reindeer, with the frog sporting a fake red nose as Rudolph. They depart before the Randalls return but leave a few surprises, like fur on the towels. Stranger still is a certificate saying the family’s won a prize for the town’s best Christmas window display, citing their creative use of “stuffed animals.” Katy makes sure to leave her mitten in the door every year. Langteau, who has written several children’s books, tells a hilarious Christmas story with a building sense of anarchy. Quatrains rhyming in an abcb pattern offer a rollicking rhythm emphasized with typography: “And soon, just like that— / Christmas Day had arrived / and their lives felt like one giant treat / They sang and they danced, / and exchanged simple gifts. / But what they did mostly was EAT!” Still, parents may want to warn kids not to follow Katy’s example considering the dangers of possible burglars. Debut illustrator Brannon provides full-page, soft-edged images in rich, glowing colors dominated by tawny red-orange, deep blue, and pine green; the Randalls have terra-cotta skin. She underscores the book’s energy and humor with details such as the rabbits’ racetrack chalked on the floor and the wonderfully ridiculous, impromptu Christmas display.
The action appropriately snowballs in this uproariously funny seasonal romp.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-578-55965-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Shake the Moon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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