“Slow Loris wasn’t his real name but that was what everyone called him. A slow loris is just a type of animal. Slow Loris was a slow loris. He really was . . . very . . . slow.” In his debut work for children, Deacon reveals the secret nightlife of the lemur-like creature and, in so doing, creates an original allegory about diversity, understanding, and acceptance. Rendered in mysterious tones of gray, black, and brown, a series of six vignettes first shows Loris barely roused as visitors troop by, then imperceptibly reaching for food left by the zookeeper. The full-bleed illustration that follows shows Loris loping towards the orange fruit looming large in the foreground. “It took Loris ten minutes to eat a satsuma,” reads the hand-lettered text. But readers soon learn Loris’s secret: “At night . . . Loris got up and did things . . . FAST . . .” An out-of-focus illustration foreshadows the frantic activity to come; a gatefold shows Loris’s fellow zoo dwellers peeking inside the cage and opens to reveal Loris banging on an overturned pot. The next night a pack of animals join Loris for a raucous party. Deacon’s hilarious illustration finds Loris at center stage, surrounded by revelers, wearing a fringed hat, and dancing with his thumbs up. What happens next is no surprise: pooped from a night of partying, all the animals join Loris in a slow and sleepy day. Pair this with Lynn Munsinger’s Score One for the Sloths (2001) and learn to take it easy. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2002
ISBN: 1-929132-27-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Turkey’s in the “kind of trouble where it’s almost Thanksgiving...and you’re the main course.” Accordingly, Turkey tries on disguise after disguise, from horse to cow to pig to sheep, at each iteration being told that he looks nothing like the animal he’s trying to mimic (which is quite true, as Harper’s quirky watercolors make crystal clear). He desperately squeezes a red rubber glove onto his head to pass as a rooster, only to overhear the farmer suggest a poultry plan B when he’s unable to turn up the turkey. Turkey’s horrified expression as he stands among the peppers and tomatoes—in November? Chalk it up to artistic license—is priceless, but his surroundings give him an idea. Good fun, but it may lead to a vegetarian table or two. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5529-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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