Highlights a side to sharks not often found in picture books, but readers can find better, notably Surprising Sharks, by...
This tale of an anthropomorphic baby shark trying to find out who he is has shades of both “The Ugly Duckling” and Are You my Mother?
Within his egg case, Shark Baby is curious to know what kind of shark he is. When a storm rips the egg case from its kelp mooring, a tear opens up, allowing Shark Baby to peek out and ask each of the sea creatures he meets, “What are you?” (The ocean current moves him about.) But Shark Baby is not like any of these other sharks. In the end, his instincts serve him well, and identify him, when his egg case bursts in front of a hungry sea lion. Bersani’s illustrations combine realism with slightly personified sea creatures and bring the watery ocean world into readers’ homes, but they lack a key identifying the species in the backgrounds. Backmatter provides additional facts about sharks and egg cases and a comparison of six shark species by size, from the great white to the tiny pajama shark, whose size on the page precludes readers’ making out any details. Readers can also put their knowledge to use by answering some true/false questions and comparing/contrasting three shark species’ egg cases. Unfortunately, the ruler at the bottom of the page is obscured by a drawing of a chicken egg, which cuts off the cm/inch delineation.
Highlights a side to sharks not often found in picture books, but readers can find better, notably Surprising Sharks, by Nicola Davies and illustrated by James Croft (2003). (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 10, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-60718-622-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sylvan Dell
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
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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
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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