Immigrant author/illustrator Gorbachev knows what it takes to make a big trip, having come to this country years ago and continued his successful children’s-book career. He reprises his Pig and Goat characters from Where Is the Apple Pie? (1999) and One Rainy Day (2001) to explore the happy anticipation versus the anxious apprehension one can experience in planning a trip. Pig blithely selects modes of transportation while Goat furthers his own agenda with reasons why one mode is worse than the other. Take a bike? You could fall off. Drive a car? It could break down. What’s the solution? It amicably brings together the irrepressible force with the irresistible speed bump: “go with a friend.” Gorbachev is up to speed portraying the emotions spent riding each new leg of the journey. Pen, ink, and watercolor capture the imagination and the reality of the intrepid travelers. Just watch out for pirates. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: March 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-399-23965-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A clever celebration of the joys of trying new foods.
Every Friday, Frankie the flamingo meets her flamingo friends at the Pink Flamingo restaurant, where they all order and eat shrimp.
Not only is shrimp delicious, but it also keeps their feathers flamingo pink. Frankie loves shrimp and would be happy to eat it forever. But then, one day, while reading a magazine, she learns the word foodie and starts to wonder if she might like foods besides shrimp, if she only tried them. When her attempt to order a meal without shrimp at the Pink Flamingo fails (the server sternly pointing to a “shrimp only!” sign), she decides to go to the local market and try to cook something herself. She starts with Brussels sprouts, which she eats in so many ways that her feathers turn from pink to green. As her culinary experiments continue, her flamingo friends become curious about Frankie’s feathers, which change color with every new food she learns to cook and eat. Inspired by Frankie, her friends decide to try new foods too—and the result is more colorful than Frankie could have ever imagined! Frankie’s story will appeal to picky eaters and food enthusiasts alike. The cartoon illustrations imbue the characters with incredibly expressive—and at times humorous—faces and body language, taking full advantage of flamingo proportions to amp the comedy. The text is straightforward and clear, and the ending will leave readers deeply satisfied. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at 46.9% of actual size.)
A clever celebration of the joys of trying new foods. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7624-9700-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
Endearing.
The floppy-eared charmer who won the hearts of (among others) a Caldecott Award committee in her first outing suffers more doggy distress in this return.
Having chased first her blue ball and then an amusingly unconcerned-looking squirrel, Daisy finds herself alone in the trackless woods. Applying paint with broad brushwork both wet and dry, Raschka expertly captures sweeping emotional arcs as Daisy and her equally anxious owner search for each other through dense foliage. Finally, Daisy’s despairing howl leads to a reunion so joyful that it requires three nearly identical scenes to express properly. With only Daisy’s called-out name and that howl for text, the pictures chart the eventful outing in a mix of full spreads and sequential strips or panels—with a midcourse aerial view that reassuringly reveals that the two are never very far apart. The duckling Daisy in Jane Simmons’ Come Along, Daisy! (1998) may be more venturesome, but young children will readily identify with the mix of high spirits and vulnerability this Daisy, literally and figuratively fetching, displays.
Endearing. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-449-81741-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2013
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