In Hoffman’s adult work, the intersection of fantasy and realism is sustained and the suspension of disbelief can be close to absolute (The River King, p. 585, etc.). However, her American-brand magical realism seems forced and close to ludicrous within the very real conventions of a picture book. Set at Cloud Ranch in an undisclosed Western state, a fearful girl lives with her wise grandfather. Jewel is afraid of horses (rather inconvenient on a ranch), but this changes when her grandfather gives her an abandoned undersized foal. She names him Bug, and he is dog-like in his devotion. Jewel had asserted that she would never ride a horse, but soon she begins to ride Bug with ease and enjoyment. One day she discovers that Bug is a special horse in another way—he can fly! A mean circus owner sees them fly and covets Bug for his menagerie. He and evil cohorts steal Bug; Jewel sets about to get him back. In a daring Big Top rescue, Jewel arrives on the scene (in circus costume), runs into the center ring, and jumps onto Bug’s back. It’s Happy Trails meets Happily Ever After when, at her word, he “unfurled his wings” and they dive bomb his kidnappers before they make their escape (with the other circus hoses following behind). The real high-flyers here are the well-modeled and skillful oil-painting illustrations. Johnson and Fancher (Cat, You’d Better Come Home, 1995, etc.) are marvelously adept at rendering figures in both shadowy dark interiors and dazzlingly lit fields under cloud-dappled skies. Avid riders or readers of equine fact and fiction will note that Hoffman blurs the pony/horse distinction here but if one already accepts that Bug can fly, well, can’t a pony be a baby horse? (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7868-0367-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
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
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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