The Little Princess is jealous of the other dads in the kingdom and the relationships they have with their children.
The other dads are taller than the King. The Cook bakes his son fancy cakes; the King’s cooking isn’t even palatable to the dog. The General’s son rides a pony, taught by his father, but the King sneezes around animals. While the King uses water wings in the tub, the Admiral’s daughter swims with the fish. And on it goes. When the Little Princess voices her complaints to a servant, the Maid says she can teach her all those things. But the riding lesson ends in a bumped head, baking is a fail, and she swallows too much water learning to swim. Running into her father, the Little Princess proclaims, “Dad, I’m useless.” As the two embrace, the King expresses his love and admiration for his daughter, telling her he was so proud to hear of her doing all those exciting things. And so the book ends, the message a little muddy. Two peas in a pod? I love you just the way you are? All of Ross’ characters are white with ruddy complexions, though the feelings that the Little Princess expresses in her eponymous series will be recognizable by many.
An odd ending note may keep readers from saying “I want it again!” (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5415-1453-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: March 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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Even more alliterative hanky-panky from the creators of The Wonky Donkey (2010).
Operating on the principle (valid, here) that anything worth doing is worth overdoing, Smith and Cowley give their wildly popular Wonky Donkey a daughter—who, being “cute and small,” was a “dinky donkey”; having “beautiful long eyelashes” she was in consequence a “blinky dinky donkey”; and so on…and on…and on until the cumulative chorus sails past silly and ludicrous to irresistibly hysterical: “She was a stinky funky plinky-plonky winky-tinky,” etc. The repeating “Hee Haw!” chorus hardly suggests what any audience’s escalating response will be. In the illustrations the daughter sports her parent’s big, shiny eyes and winsome grin while posing in a multicolored mohawk next to a rustic boombox (“She was a punky blinky”), painting her hooves pink, crossing her rear legs to signal a need to pee (“winky-tinky inky-pinky”), demonstrating her smelliness with the help of a histrionic hummingbird, and finally cozying up to her proud, evidently single parent (there’s no sign of another) for a closing cuddle.
Should be packaged with an oxygen supply, as it will incontestably elicit uncontrollable gales of giggles. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-60083-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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A fascinating, splendidly executed peek into both the mundane and the dramatic aspects of lighthouse life.
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This tribute to lighthouses of an earlier era focuses on one lighthouse and its dedicated keeper.
Perched “on the highest rock of a tiny island / at the edge of the world,” the lighthouse shines for seafaring ships. A new keeper arrives, continuing the endless routine of polishing the lens, refilling the oil, trimming the wick, winding the clockwork, painting the round rooms, fishing, making tea, sending letters to his wife (in bottles), and writing daily in his logbook. One day, a ship delivering supplies brings the keeper’s wife! The keeper rings a warning bell in fog, rescues wrecked sailors, and logs his baby’s birth. When he’s ill, his stalwart wife tends the light and maintains the logbook. Eventually, a mechanical light replaces the keeper. While the spare, unemotional text resembles a keeper’s log, the book’s vertical orientation echoes a lighthouse tower. Rendered in Chinese ink and watercolor, precise, detailed illustrations present the lighthouse surrounded by patterned blue, green, or gray waves depending on the weather or season, reinforcing its solitary enterprise. A cutaway interior view exposes a compact, contained world. Close-ups of the keeper and his wife (both white) in porthole-shaped frames and from unusual aerial views emphasize their isolated, intimate, circular environment. An “About Lighthouses” section adds insightful detail.
A fascinating, splendidly executed peek into both the mundane and the dramatic aspects of lighthouse life. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-36238-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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