Three tiny tales feature two goats whose domestic activities wreak havoc on six bunnies until a resourceful bear saves the day. In “Muddy Bunnies,” Mr. Goat’s tractor splashes the bunnies with mud, and Bear uses his washing machine to clean them up. In “Dusty Bunnies,” Mrs. Goat sucks the bunnies from their burrow into her vacuum cleaner. Bear uses his giant fan to dust them off. And in “Bunny Tails,” Mr. Goat lops off the bunnies’ tails as he clips his hedge. Using his sewing machine, “Bear knows just what to do.” Amazingly, the bunnies survive innocent mechanized mayhem and “everyone is happy.” Nyeu’s naïve silkscreened illustrations rely on bold lines, a harmonious palette of blues, golds, greens and browns and simple, repetitive patterns to create a fanciful patchwork-quilt landscape in which idyllic natural forms coexist with modern mechanical devices. Scenes of baffled wee white bunnies spinning on delicate cycle, popping out of vacuum bags and holding their powder-puff tails add to the overall whimsy, hapless humor and total charm. (dust jacket opens into poster) (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3330-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
Should appeal to all the little grump trucks hauling their feelings about.
When dump trucks get angry (really, really angry), head for the hills!
Little Dump Truck is “the happiest member of the construction crew.” Assisting everyone from Excavator to Bulldozer, she hauls her load merrily. But sometimes things just don’t go her way. In rapid succession, dirt is blown in her face, a tire is punctured, and a flock of birds mistake her for a lavatory. Now she’s Little Grump Truck, and the exceedingly poor advice from her co-workers (“Ignore it. You’ll be fine”; “Shake it off!”) pushes her too far. After Little Grump Truck unloads (figuratively and literally) on her colleagues, everyone else has the “grumpies” too. It isn’t until she closes her eyes and focuses that Little Dump Truck is able to clear her mind and lighten her mood. Apologies are in order, and soon everything is humming (for the time being, anyway). Though the narrative doesn’t drill the message home, both child and adult readers alike will hopefully pick up on the fact that pithy aphorisms are maddeningly unhelpful when one is in a bad mood. Gray skies accompany the dump truck’s mood, which is depicted as an ever morphing agglomeration of hard, black scribbles. The accompanying art serves its purpose, investing its trucks with personality via time-honored headlight, windshield-wiper, and grille facial features. Little Dump Truck has a purple cab and green bed and a single lash on each headlight eye. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Should appeal to all the little grump trucks hauling their feelings about. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-30081-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This cute-as-a-button cub has achieved a lot on his way to kindergarten. Not, as the title seems to indicate, on a meandering walk to the schoolyard, but rather over the five years leading up to his exciting entrée. From newborn forward, the snappy, rhyming text extols milestones such as, to start with, burping and crying. But at one year the cub is pulling himself up and trying to eat ants. Later he’s learning to pedal a tricycle, drawing, brushing his own teeth, singing the ABC song and dancing along, buckling his own seat belt and paddling the length of the pool. Careful observers will watch for the cub’s unmentioned mouse pal on every page. The oil pastels give vibrancy and soft lines to the action populated by an array of adorable young animals. The simple buoyancy of the text will help create positive anticipation for starting school. For toddlers, each of the cub’s successes is something to aim for, and older kids can applaud how far they have come themselves. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-399-24168-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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