A fierce, funny parable about sinking one’s teeth into creative expression.
A frustrated little critter tries to bite everything in sight.
In an earlier book, Zilbo, a pointy-nosed dog with sharply rendered eyebrows, learned that grumpiness is extremely contagious. In his latest outing, he becomes so angry that he begins biting all that he sees. He sharpens his fangs on smaller stuff first: biting the television when he loses his video game (and shattering it spectacularly) and chomping on his alarm clock when it wakes him up. Bikes, hats, basketballs: Nothing is safe. The sun’s heat infuriates Zilbo, so he tries to climb up to the top of a tree to reach his target. Though he fails, he spots a bird in a beret painting a landscape. Zilbo borrows the supplies, paints the sun, and bites the painting! The avian artist has given him a gift: Zilbo discovers he can funnel his frustrated energy into self-expression. Zilbo’s artwork is far more well received than his fits of fury were. Focusing on Zilbo’s irritation, this graphic novel will feel hilariously relatable to many young readers, though some caregivers may look askance at Zilbo’s initial predilection for biting. Zilbo’s bright, simple surroundings and supportive, sensitive friends create a welcoming comic-book setting, while Benton’s clear, expressive text meets early elementary readers on their level.
A fierce, funny parable about sinking one’s teeth into creative expression. (Graphic fiction. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9780063460478
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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
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