Particularly good for kids not ready to move beyond nonthreatening shark stories.
These twin sand sharks just love a good joke.
Flip and Fin are on their way to school when Flip tries out a joke on his brother: “What did the sawfish see?…He saw fish!” Ouch. Fin tells his twin that with Joke Day coming up at school, Flip is going to need a lot of practice to measure up. At school, while Fin builds a sandcastle with Swimmy the jellyfish, Flip tries out a joke on Molly the anglerfish. He forgets the punch line. When Flip and Fin play superheroes, though, Flip’s jokes improve—must be the cape. He keeps practicing. When Joke Day arrives, the big kids tell great jokes…but even with his cape on, Flip gets stage fright until Fin helps out from the audience. Then all the sea creatures have a joke-a-thon. Gill’s tale of finny, fraternal support is a fine fable. Everything works out, and some of the jokes are actually funny (though the audience at Joke Day laughs hysterically at the banana/orange knock-knock joke without the necessary setup). Numberman’s watercolor illustrations are inviting, expressive and silly in their cartoon, saucer-eyed exaggeration. The fishy facts at the close are a plus.
Particularly good for kids not ready to move beyond nonthreatening shark stories. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: April 22, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-224300-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
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
Another quirky take on the series theme that it’s cool to be kind.
The cool beans again step up to do a timorous fellow legume a fava…this time at the pool.
Will a rash decision to tackle the multistory super-slide lead to another embarrassing watery fail for our shy protagonist? Nope, for up the stairs right behind comes a trio of cool beans, each a different type and color, all clad in nothing but dark shades. They make an offer: “It’s not as scary if you go with friends!” As the knobby nerd explains once the thrilling ride down is done, “They all realized that I just needed some encouragement and support.” Just to make sure that both cool and uncool readers get the message, the narrator lets us know that “there are plenty of kind folks who have my back. They’re always there when I need them.” The beany bonhomie doesn’t end at the bottom of the slide, with all gliding down to the shallow end of the pool (“3 INCHES. NO DIVING”) for a splashy finale. This latest early reader starring characters from John and Oswald’s immensely popular Food Group series will be a hit with fans. Fun accessories, such as a bean who rocks pink cat-eye frames, add some pizzazz to the chromatically and somatotypically varied cast.
Another quirky take on the series theme that it’s cool to be kind. (Easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780063329560
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
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