A whale of a tale.
Move over Clifford the Big Red Dog—here’s a new take on the big-pet story.
As the dark-skinned narrator approaches a booth at a fair, “practical” parents close behind, the child says, “I have to win this goldfish,” because practicality prohibits “anything fluffy. Or shaggy. Or feathery. Or that eats mice.” When the tossed coin lands not in a fishbowl at the booth but in a tiny, glass bowl at the back of the display, the barker proclaims, “You won Nuncio!” (who turns out to be a whale). The child’s parents aren’t happy, but they are “very, very fair” so they agree to bring Nuncio home, “on a trial basis.” At first, they find having a whale in their backyard to be a trial. Even the proud owner is none-too-happy about cleaning out the pool. But then they discover that Nuncio can help them in practical ways—like spraying water from his blowhole to help wash the car, for example—and all’s well that ends well. That the family is of color is never noted in the text, but it’s a welcome, matter-of-fact characterization detail conveyed through illustrations. Throughout, the pictures go along with the story’s absurd premise and augment the humor of the text by employing a flat, cartoon aesthetic and bright colors.
A whale of a tale. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-50993-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
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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