A riotous, rib-tickling comedy of errors.
In this sequel to There’s a Dinosaur on the 13th Floor (2018), Mr. Snore returns to the Sharemore Hotel for another memorable adventure.
Hired to play his violin at a hotel wedding, Mr. Snore arrives early. When the wedding planner offers him cocoa, Mr. Snore requests no marshmallows because they make him sneeze. Spying a dodo bird gobbling a frosting rose on the wedding cake, Mr. Snore chases it away. While the wedding planner looks for someone to repair the cake, Mr. Snore stands guard, wielding his instrument’s bow like a sword to fend off two beavers and a boa constrictor. Out of an abundance of caution, Mr. Snore moves the cake trolley into a dark closet, but it’s filled with bats. Pushing the trolley away from a pelican and an ostrich, Mr. Snore evades a dinosaur in a tuxedo, locking him in a freezer. Finally, the wedding planner intervenes, and Mr. Snore realizes he’s overreacted and badly misjudged everyone except the offending dodo. Just as all seems sorted out, Mr. Snore sniffs the marshmallow frosting on the wedding cake—with explosive results. Comic, dramatic, fast-paced illustrations reveal well-intentioned Mr. Snore’s cascading mistakes as he heroically thrusts and parries his bow and frantically steers the cake trolley across the pages. Diverse animals dressed in wedding finery border on the absurd, but none match proper Mr. Snore and his hilariously monumental proboscis. Mr. Snore presents White, and the wedding planner has brown skin.
A riotous, rib-tickling comedy of errors. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0884-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This book sings.
Hamilton star Soo’s debut picture book centers on a young girl confronting stage fright.
Piper Chen twirls through her days with her mouth wide open. When Mr. Harris, her music teacher, asks Piper if she’d like to sing a solo in the Spring Sing, she immediately answers, “Yes!” But later, she finds herself frozen during practice. Later, Piper’s grandmother Nǎi Nai notices that Piper isn’t singing, and Piper explains about the solo and the butterflies in her stomach. Nǎi Nai understands and explains that she experienced “húdié” (Chinese for butterflies) at her first piano recital. They also visited whenever something exciting was ahead, like when she left China for America, when she graduated from music school, and when she became a U.S. citizen. “Now, when they greet me, I greet them back. ‘Hello, húdié. Nǐ hǎo.’” The night of the show, Piper feels the butterflies flapping their wings. She hums to herself, “Hello, húdié” and sings. Soo and Pasquale Doran sensitively capture the anxiety of performing and draw parallels with other life changes while giving readers a concrete tool for addressing those butterflies. Leng’s delicate, expressive ink, watercolor, and oil pastel illustrations capture Piper’s enthusiasm and uncertainty as well as Nǎi Nai’s loving warmth, working seamlessly with the text in vignettes and full spreads. Piper Chen and Nǎi Nai are Chinese American; Mr. Harris is brown-skinned.
This book sings. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593564691
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads.
Emma deals with jitters before playing the guitar in the school talent show.
Pop musician Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle, put performance at the center of their picture-book debut. When Emma is intimidated by her very talented friends, the encouragement of her younger sister, Bella, and the support of her family help her to shine her own light. The story is straightforward and the moral familiar: Draw strength from your family and within to overcome your fears. Employing the performance-anxiety trope that’s been written many times over, the book plods along predictably—there’s nothing really new or surprising here. Dawson’s full-color digital illustrations center a White-presenting family along with Emma’s three friends of color: Jamila has tanned skin and wears a hijab; Wendy has dark brown skin and Afro puffs; and Luis has medium brown skin. Emma’s expressive eyes and face are the real draw of the artwork—from worry to embarrassment to joy, it’s clear what she’s feeling. A standout double-page spread depicts Emma’s talent show performance, with a rainbow swirl of music erupting from an amp and Emma rocking a glam outfit and electric guitar. Overall, the book reads pretty plainly, buoyed largely by the artwork. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-35207-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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