A surprising gem.
A day on the farm, seen through the eyes of a lively chicken.
“It’s a good day to be a chicken. The sun is up. The grass is warm. And chicken wants a nap.” Marchini’s minimal text runs in short sentences across the bottom of the book’s pages, the better to highlight Felix’s distinctive, painterly illustrations. Her chicken, with white feathers, yellow feet and bill, green eyes, and bright-red wattle and comb, has personality, nobility, and a kind of beauty. As the day progresses, the chicken’s plan to nap is consistently foiled, first by a sudden rain. She finds refuge in the quiet barn, but it’s disrupted by the loud, malodorous cows. The chicken next tries to find some peace on the porch, which is covered because “the farmer is kind.” This time it’s the loud barking of the friendly farm dog that disrupts. Again, the chicken cannot nap. It becomes a good day again when the rain stops and the worms come out of the ground. Belly full, the chicken is finally able to nap. But: “It’s a bad day to be a worm,” is the cheeky close. Marchini and Felix successfully portray their chicken as a real animal, not a cartoon or a human stand-in, and present life on a small farm. Marchini’s story and economy of telling display the chicken as total id, and Felix’s pencil-and-watercolor illustrations are genuine works of art.
A surprising gem. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-56846-308-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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