Bently, an artistic frog, and Kack Kack, a recently widowed duck, are close friends: she takes care of his laundry and admires his drawings; he agrees to watch over her egg when she wants to visit her sister's new ducklings. Feeling lonely (the egg ``looked so blank''), Bently whiles away the time by painting it—a lucky thing, it turns out, since the decorations divert a passing boy from smashing it. But not from eggnapping. Bently follows, and a picaresque series of adventures ensues, happily concluded when he gets the egg safely home just in time for it to hatch and be named in his honor. Joyce's whimsical, sophisticated narrative includes some unabashed contrivances, especially a balloon that just happens to turn up to transport Bently and his fragile charge. Of most interest are the lucidly composed illustrations, in the tender hues of swampland in a morning mist; Bently is slim and elegant, the duck motherly and rotund, with a rather vacant look. This will never take the place of Dr. Seuss's Horton, but Bently's discovery that watching over the egg makes him care about it provides an interesting contrast to the elephant's more single- minded loyalty. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1992
ISBN: 0-06-020385-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1991
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
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