A patient spadefoot toad waits in her desert burrow, listening for rain so she can come forth to mate. Sayre’s (Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!, 2000, etc.) onomatopoetic text, aided by energetic typeface shifts, presents the many sounds the toad would hear, from the “skitter, skitter, scratch” of a scorpion, to the “tap, tap, tap” of a gila woodpecker on a cactus, to—at last!—the “plop thunk, plop thunk, plop thunk gussssshhhhhhh!” of a sudden desert rain. The simple question-and-answer format (“What’s that sound now? Is this the rain at last? No, it’s a rat . . . ”) builds tension and involves readers directly in the toad’s experience. Bash’s (Phantom of the Prairie, 1998, etc.) expressive pencil, pen-and-ink, and watercolor illustrations shift back and forth from the toad’s burrow to the action above, occasionally layering the two views until the rain brings the toad’s confinement to an end and she is out in the blessed, drenched open. The text and illustrations describe the lifecycle of the spadefoot toad in detail (including toad sex), the tadpoles’ swift metamorphosis in the drying puddles leading to a retreat to their burrows to wait for the next rain. Finely detailed illustrations capture the desert’s denizens in motion, complementing the aurality of the text and contrasting with the ever-patient toad, which they invest with a remarkable amount of personality. This is top-notch nonfiction for the very young, introducing readers to desert wildlife in general and in particular to the remarkable spadefoot toad, who may wait in her burrow for up to 11 months for the next rain. (author’s note, additional facts on desert neighbors) (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 31, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-16614-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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