Natural history for the younger set manages to be playful without being precious. Sayre tells the story of the first few hours of a life of a crocodile’s brood in short, sharp sentences that recall her earlier work (Dig, Wait, Listen, p. 505, etc.) and that capture well the African wildlife tumbling around a mother crocodile as she waits for her eggs to hatch. As agreeable for reading aloud as onomatopoeia is (and Sayre enlivens the well-used device with a nuanced sensitivity to rhythm and sound, adding layers of alliteration and assonance to spare prose), the real interest lies in the contrast between the deadly mother and her care for her young—a contrast heightened by the clearly observed pastel illustrations. McAllister Stammen makes the most of her medium, employing traces of purple, blue, and even pink to give the mottled hide of the crocodile a realistic edge, while razor-sharp foregrounds and blurry backgrounds give the vignettes the air of National Geographic photographs. In a striking spread, Crocodile conveys her babies to the Nile in her jaws, the squirming little ones peeping out in a way both startling and fascinating. An author’s note adds few facts that a bright reader would not be able to infer from the story, but it does provide specific scientific information. By refusing to sentimentalize the mother crocodile’s role, the author and illustrator encourage readers to see beyond stereotypes and look at the natural world with a more balanced eye. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-16504-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2001
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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