A droll, minimalist take on an odyssey that will be within the experiences of many children…and most adults.
With a family that grows between each page turn, it’s definitely time to find new digs.
The quest of Gregory and Petunia Bunny (and their burgeoning Bunny clan) to find a “burrow to call their own” amusingly points up the gaps between the enticing real estate ads (“This spacious burrow is protected by a state-of-the-art briar patch”) circled on the endpapers and the problematic realities. A cavernous space that’s “just right for our family!” does wait at the end of the search—but only after one reject (“The fairies next door are too loud”) after another (“The ogre who lives here has pet SNAKES!”) after another (“Look at all these rubies in the dragon’s hoard! This place is too expensive”). Light illustrates his real estate fable in loosely drawn outlines with pink highlights, with a broad, black track looping across each double-page spread. Hinged flaps with small peepholes offer outside views of every tree, ornate palace, or thorny thicket along the way, gatefolds lifting to reveal the various fairy-tale or mythological creatures that populate each residence. The page compositions are busy and fanciful, sophisticated and childlike at the same time; it may take readers a bit of time to understand that they are looking at a bird’s-eye view of the neighborhood, with buildings’ fronts depicted instead of their roofs.
A droll, minimalist take on an odyssey that will be within the experiences of many children…and most adults. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-57687-752-4
Page Count: 20
Publisher: POW!
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
An effective early chapter book conveyed in a slightly overdone gag.
Epistolary dispatches from the eternal canine/feline feud.
Simon the cat is angry. He had done a good job taking care of his boy, Andy, but now that Andy’s parents are divorced, a dog named Baxter has moved into Andy’s dad’s house. Simon believes that there isn’t enough room in Andy’s life for two furry friends, so he uses the power of the pen to get Baxter to move out. Inventively for the early-chapter-book format, the story is told in letters written back and forth; Simon’s are impeccably spelled on personalized stationery while Baxter’s spelling slowly improves through the letters he scrawls on scraps of paper. A few other animals make appearances—a puffy-lipped goldfish who for some reason punctuates her letter with “Blub…blub…” seems to be the only female character (cued through stereotypical use of eyelashes and red lipstick), and a mustachioed snail ferries the mail to and fro. White-appearing Andy is seen playing with both animals as a visual background to the text, as is his friend Noah (a dark-skinned child who perhaps should not be nicknamed “N Man”). Cat lovers will appreciate Simon’s prickliness while dog aficionados will likely enjoy Baxter’s obtuse enthusiasm, and all readers will learn about the time and patience it takes to overcome conflict and jealousy with someone you dislike.
An effective early chapter book conveyed in a slightly overdone gag. (Fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4492-2
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Silly reads for new readers to dig into.
A turnip-loving duck and its friends defend their garden.
Alas, the duck, sheep, dog, and donkey immediately discover the eponymous pest in the garden when it (a groundhog?) eats a row of beans. The duck is frantic that turnips are next, but instead the pest eats the sheep’s favorite crop: corn. Peas occupy the next row, and the pest gobbles them up, too. Instead of despairing, however, the donkey cries, “Yippee! He ate ALL THE PEAS!” and catching the others’ puzzled looks, continues, “I don’t like peas.” After this humorous twist, the only uneaten row is sown with turnips, and the duck leaps to devour them before the pest can do so. In a satisfying, funny conclusion, the duck beams when the dog, sheep, and donkey resolve to plant a new garden and protect it with a fence, only to find out that it will exclude not just the groundhog, but the duck, too. A companion release, What Is Chasing Duck?, has the same brand of humor and boldly outlined figures rendered in a bright palette, but its storyline doesn’t come together as well since it’s unclear why the duck is scared and why the squirrel that was chasing it doesn’t recognize the others when they turn and chase him at book’s end.
Silly reads for new readers to dig into. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-544-94165-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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