When Brother Duck and Sister Duck receive a gift of butterfly nets, the siblings go against Mama and Papa Duck’s wishes and wander off into the woods, lost in the chase to catch any small critter that crosses their path.
When nightfall suddenly catches the ducklings in the middle of the forest and the reality of being lost hits the ducklings, their cries are heard by Ms. Owl, who gathers the forest animals to call out for Mama and Papa Duck. The illustrations depict a comical, lively character ensemble of distinct personalities. One after another, each animal howls out their unique distress call: Ms. Wolf’s “piercing howl,” Mr. Moose’s “earthshaking bellow,” Ms. Fox’s “shrill scream,” and Mr. Bear’s “fierce growl.” Eventually, it is the combination of simultaneous animal screeching that leads the Duck parents to their lost ducklings, who send up their own peeps into the night. At the end, the Duck parents deny hearing all of the other animals that helped the ducklings, confessing to only hearing their ducklings’ “sweet peep-peep-peep” amid the noise. Gorbachev’s friendly cartoons depict clothed, anthropomorphic forest animals, the ducklings’ urgent body language instantly recognizable. The animals’ vocalizations will make for rousing read-alouds.
This easy-to-follow-along tale with its happy-family ending will make for a great bedtime story. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4107-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both!
Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. “Duck said, loud as he could quack it, / ‘THUNDER’S JUST A NOISY RACKET!’ ” In the quiet after the storm, the barnyard friends are sleepy, but the garage is not their home. “ ‘Beep!’ said Blue. ‘Just hop inside. / All aboard for the bedtime ride!’ ” Young readers will settle down for their own bedtimes as Blue and Toad drop each friend at home and bid them a good night before returning to the garage and their own beds. “Blue gave one small sleepy ‘Beep.’ / Then Little Blue Truck fell fast asleep.” Joseph’s rich nighttime-blue illustrations (done “in the style of [series co-creator] Jill McElmurry”) highlight the power of the storm and capture the still serenity that follows. Little Blue Truck has been chugging along since 2008, but there seems to be plenty of gas left in the tank.
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-85213-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION
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The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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