Ruthie Bon Bair will NOT dry her long hair, and soon she discovers there are mushrooms up there! Then lush ferns, then moss, lily pads and a froggie—there’s hardly a thing not a-bloom on her noggie. No grown-up can fix her, not mom, doc or plant guy, and the hairdresser fails, so Ruth gives it her own try. Since mushrooms and fern things won’t grow when it snows, wet-haired in her nightie, outdoors Ruthie goes. Plants droop, Ruthie blow-dries, but still all’s not well—there’s more of this hair-raising story to tell. Our crinkle-haired friend and her leaden-eyed cohorts now face a new growth of the warm, dry locale sort. This claims to be writ in the Seuss-y tradition, but that only comes to a lukewarm fruition. Comic pictures are drawn with those pencils of color, but one pretty much looks a lot like another. If you’ve got a hankerin’ for stories of hair, try Franny B. Kranny (2001) or Bedhead (2000) to share. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-8109-5470-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2006
Carle (Little Cloud, 1996, etc.) takes as his premise that animals don't have to go to the gym—their natural movements give them plenty of exercise. "I am a giraffe and I bend my neck. Can you do it?" asks the animal of the child. "I can do it!" is the invariable reply. If readers participate in the gestures shown on every page, they'll get something of a work-out, for the analogies are good: foot-stomping elephants, clapping seals, and shoulder-hunching buffalo are enticingly imitatable. The book's large size and bold, brightly colored animals make it ideal for story hours. Unusual for Carle—and highlighted by the emphasis on action—is the stiffness of the collages: Neither children nor animals convey a sense of motion, but appear locked into place. Linda Lowery's Twist With a Burger, Jitter With a Bug (1995) inspires similar participation, but is a more rhythmic and vivacious book. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 11, 1997
ISBN: 0-06-023515-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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