The dinosaurs may make this a minor storytime hit, but more and juicier twists on the song abound. E-I-E-I-Bleh.
Outsized new livestock drive the familiar farmyard sing-along residents into a tizzy.
Entirely a one-trick pony, this umpteenth “Old MacDonald” spinoff wedges dinosaurs into the barnyard and lyric with little visible effort to make them fit: “Old MacDino had a farm, E-I-E-I-O! / And on this farm he had a… / DIPLODOCUS! / (dih-PLOD-uh-kus) / E-I-E-I-O!” (or, at the end of the verse, “E-I-E-I-Argh!”). In the cartoon illustration, overalls-clad MacDino—white, wide-eyed, and open-mouthed—stands and rather superfluously points at a huge green dino that is chowing down on a pile of hay as cattle and poultry hang around watching. Likewise, a pterodactyl (TARE-uh-DACK-tul) zooms in with a “Swoosh! Swoosh! here, / and a Swoosh! Swoosh! there,” a stegosaurus stomps along and (literally) upsets the apple cart, and a smiling velociraptor charges a herd of smiling sheep as the (smiling) sheepdog heads in the opposite direction. Finally a purple T. Rex comes charging out of the gray (or pink or blue, depending on the picture) barn with a “Roar! Roar!” and prompts everyone to “E-I-E-I-RUN!”
The dinosaurs may make this a minor storytime hit, but more and juicier twists on the song abound. E-I-E-I-Bleh. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-063-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sugary uplift, shrink-wrapped for the masses.
An elusive new quarry leads the How To Catch… kids on a merry chase through a natural history museum.
Taking at least a step away from the “hunters versus prey” vibe of previous entries in the popular series, the racially diverse group of young visitors dashes through various museum halls in pursuit of the eponymous dino—whose quest to “spread kindness and joy ’round the world” takes the form of a mildly tumultuous museum tour. In most of Elkerton’s overly sweet, color-saturated scenes, only portions of the Loveosaurus, who is purple and covered with pink hearts, are visible behind exhibits or lumbering off the page. But the children find small enticements left behind, from craft supplies to make cards for endangered species to pictures of smiley faces, candy heart–style personal notes (“You Rock!” “Give Hugs”), and, in the hall of medieval arms and armor, a sign urging them to “Be Honest Be Kind.” The somewhat heavy-handed lesson comes through loud and clear. “There’s a message, he wants us to think,” hints Walstead to clue in more obtuse readers…and concluding scenes of smiling people young and otherwise exchanging hugs and knuckle bumps, holding doors for a wheelchair rider, and dancing through clouds of sparkles indicate that they, at least, have gotten it. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sugary uplift, shrink-wrapped for the masses. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2022
ISBN: 9781728268781
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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