Amusing to the point of provoking an inquiry. Really, it’s the bee’s knees.
Idioms get a run for their money in this good-humored and stimulating piece of wordplay from Nichols.
Nichols lays the figurative speech on thick in this mystery being tackled by the Gumshoe Zoo detective team, and he keeps the humor on high alert by using a team of animals as investigators. Animals, of course, are a favorite idiomatic tool, so apologies are flying as fast as the idioms: “Hmm...Yes. There’s something fishy going on around here. / Oh! No offense, Reggie,” says Quentin the goat. “None taken,” says Reggie the fish, adding, “There is some definite monkey business at hand, my friend. / Ooh. I didn’t mean anything by that, Steve,” says Reggie. “No sweat,” says Steve the monkey, adding, “And I agree. I smell a rat.” Nichols has illustrated the story in comic-book panels—some full-page, others with two or more a page—which gives the book both compression of language and expansion of story. The art itself is finely cartoony and as elemental as the periodic table. There are also zoomed-in panels that work a bit like a jigsaw puzzle to help readers determine if foul play is afoot. A concluding note provides further information, and it seems pretty natural that kids will want to learn something more about idioms from this first pleasing immersion.
Amusing to the point of provoking an inquiry. Really, it’s the bee’s knees. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-3182-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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