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MOO HOO

Name: MOO HOO
Author: Audrey Perrott
ISBN: 9781338888881

by Audrey Perrott ; illustrated by Ross Burach ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2024

Kids may learn to laugh at themselves a little—and accept themselves, too.

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Cowabunga! A bull can’t control the waterworks.

Milton’s life is great. He loves the pasture where he lives, and he enjoys an endless supply of ice cream. But Milton cries nonstop, earning himself the nickname Moo Hoo. He cries when he’s sad and when he’s happy. He cries when he’s nervous, when he’s frustrated, and when his favorite music swells to emotional heights. Milton cries when he’s embarrassed, and then when that happens, he cries even more. Eventually, he decides to toughen up and become a bully. That doesn’t work: His new persona makes him sad, which causes more waterworks. His next strategy? Deplete his tears. He watches happy movies, listens to sad songs, and admires moving sights until all his tears are gone. Or are they? An encounter with a sympathetic, similarly overemotional sheep, nicknamed Waa Waa, turns Milton’s life around. They share sob stories, bawl together, and forge a bond. Milton realizes that all he needed was a pal who likes him for who he is. This thin, somewhat silly story is intended to reassure readers that it’s OK to be exactly who they are. It’s a touch idealistic, though many emotional youngsters will likely feel buoyed. The amusing, lively illustrations were created with pencil, crayon, acrylic, and digital coloring.

Kids may learn to laugh at themselves a little—and accept themselves, too. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: April 16, 2024

ISBN: 9781338888881

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A HAT FOR HOUSE
by Audrey Perrott ; illustrated by Druscilla Santiago

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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TINY T. REX AND THE IMPOSSIBLE HUG

by Jonathan Stutzman ; illustrated by Jay Fleck ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2019

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.

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With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?

Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)