Having gained natatorial prowess (Ruffen: The Sea Serpent Who Couldn’t Swim, 2008), little Ruffen’s ready to explore the world, and when his Aunt Nessie invites him for a visit, off he goes. It’s a long way to Scotland, so he hitches a ride in the mouth of Henry the whale (“One time I had a man living here for more than three days. I think his name was Jonah”) but is apprehended on the overland leg of the journey and imprisoned in a zoo. He quickly stages a zoobreak and carries all the former captives (who fend off their would-be re-captors with a mammoth fart) to Loch Ness, where Aunt Nessie serenades them all with the bagpipes. Hansen decorates his black-and-white line drawings with jewel-toned accents, equipping all his characters with big, sad eyes and Ruffen with a distinctive mop of hair. Kooky details keep this overlong Norwegian import from sinking entirely into its daft illogic: Nessie sports tartan spots; the zoo is located in “The-Town-With-The-Name-No-One-Can-Say.” Still, the nonending of an ending will disappoint readers who have grown fond of Ruffen and his pals. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9815761-2-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: MacKenzie Smiles
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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