Ultimately, Samson is appealingly offbeat but not quite the big star that he aspires to be.
A flea strongman leaves the small circus where he has been performing in search of greater fame and fortune.
The eponymous Samson is a big draw at Fleabag’s Circus. Although he’s clearly adored by his colleague, Amelie, and appreciated by audiences, readers are told that he feels “empty,” so he sets off in search of broader horizons and bigger audiences. Shadowed by a bee wearing a pirate hat and polka-dot pants, Samson pursues his dreams only to find that reaching them doesn’t make him happier. A wild ride on a shaggy red dog (with a little help from the bee) leads him home again. Sly humor abounds, much of it in the brightly colored, retro-styled illustrations. There are clever costumes: Samson’s leopard-spotted pants (echoed on the endpapers) and high-top sneakers, for example, and the balloon bug’s French-mime striped shirt and beret. The funniest detail—one that’s pivotal to the plot—is the larger stage upon which Samson eventually performs: a human strongman’s head. Unfortunately, the text is not as successful. It bumps along, sometimes rhyming, sometimes not, with little internal logic. Neither Samson’s initial hollowness nor his change of heart is particularly convincing and likely won’t have much meaning for young listeners.
Ultimately, Samson is appealingly offbeat but not quite the big star that he aspires to be. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5124-8123-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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