Remember—nice dogs find a good home and bumbling burglars find the big house.
Bob, a dog looking for a life on the straight and narrow, stumbles on a solution without being unfaithful to his no-good burglar of an owner.
Bob and Rob are crooks: Rob as that’s his stock in trade, and Bob as he is Rob’s dog, and Bob’s mother told him to always be faithful to his owner—no matter what. Outside of being an accomplice in crime, Bob’s a good pooch: He likes to iron clothes and help old ladies across the street. Rob is a lousy crook, though: He gets distracted by mothballed dresses, chamber pots and dust brooms. Then they see through a window the haul of a lifetime: hundreds of wrapped presents. But when they get the loot home, it turns out to be a bunch of toys for children. Bob is crestfallen. Steal a bunch of kids’ presents? That’s low. Bob contrives to return the goodies and turns into a present himself when the kids catch him returning the gifts. Rob continues his life of crime, which lasts a day or two without Bob’s help. There’s not much for readers to chew on here that they haven’t heard a hundred times (crime doesn’t pay, being good is its own reward). Still, Pickford’s artwork is a treat, with Rob in his pink slippers and Bob with his binoculars, both as two-dimensional as possible—as if Bob has taken a good, hot iron to them—and with lots of crooked linework, which befits a couple crooks (or at least one real crook).
Remember—nice dogs find a good home and bumbling burglars find the big house. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-84780-343-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
These reindeer games are a bit tired but, given the series’ popularity, should have a large, ready-made audience.
The How to Catch A… crew try for Comet.
Having already failed to nab a Halloween witch, the Easter Bunny, a turkey, a leprechaun, the Tooth Fairy, and over a dozen other iconic trophies in previous episodes of this bestselling series, one would think the racially diverse gaggle of children in Elkerton’s moonlit, wintry scenes would be flagging…but no, here they lay out snares ranging from a loop of garland to an igloo baited with reindeer moss to an enticing candy cane maze, all in hopes of snagging one of Santa’s reindeer while he’s busy delivering presents. Infused with pop culture–based Christmas cheer (“Now I’ve already seen the shelf with the elf”), Comet prances past the traps until it’s time to gather up the kids, most of whom look terrified, for a group snapshot with the other reindeer and then climb back into harness: “This was a great stop but a few million to go / Christmas Eve must continue with style!” Though festive, the verse feels trite and unlikely to entice youngsters. A sprinkling of “True Facts About Reindeer” (“They live in the tundra, where they have friends like the arctic bunny”) wrap up this celebration of the predatory spirit. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
These reindeer games are a bit tired but, given the series’ popularity, should have a large, ready-made audience. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 9781728276137
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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