A slip of a story with quite engaging illustrations.
Sometimes friendships can be all too fleeting.
In this tale told across the seasons, Mr. Cat, a painter, encounters a tiny slip of a girl beneath some autumn leaves amid winter’s snows. Concerned, he takes her home and feeds her toast. Though at first he must adapt to having someone new around, soon Mr. Cat comes to care for her and watch out for her. He even finds creative inspiration in the yellow flowers that appear in her footsteps outdoors. Mr. Cat searches for the name of the flower in an encyclopedia and discovers a picture of the girl, as well as some sad news about her life span. The straightforward text (translated from Chinese into Dutch and then into English) at times repeats what appears in the illustrations rather than leaving space for artistic vision and, furthermore, can be rather lengthy for a picture book. However, the smudgy, soft-edged illustrations are quite captivating. Close-ups of the girl and Mr. Cat really engage readers, and the spare use of yellow draws their eyes along. The use of white space creates tension and provides balance for several full-color spreads. The story, though, is slight, and it might leave young readers puzzled as to the little girl’s demise as well as Mr. Cat’s future now that he has been changed by his friend.
A slip of a story with quite engaging illustrations. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60537-488-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity.
Buzz and his buzzy buddy open a spinoff series of nonfiction early readers with an aquarium visit.
Buzz: “Like other fish, sharks breathe through gills.” Fly Guy: “GILLZZ.” Thus do the two pop-eyed cartoon tour guides squire readers past a plethora of cramped but carefully labeled color photos depicting dozens of kinds of sharks in watery settings, along with close-ups of skin, teeth and other anatomical features. In the bite-sized blocks of narrative text, challenging vocabulary words like “carnivores” and “luminescence” come with pronunciation guides and lucid in-context definitions. Despite all the flashes of dentifrice and references to prey and smelling blood in the water, there is no actual gore or chowing down on display. Sharks are “so cool!” proclaims Buzz at last, striding out of the gift shop. “I can’t wait for our next field trip!” (That will be Fly Guy Presents: Space, scheduled for September 2013.)
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity. (Informational easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-50771-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
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