The (ample) fun is in the details.
Oscar the mole has a secret ambition—to become a detective.
Oscar is a chef; but he reads mysteries and thrillers, and he has “a nose that knows” (he’s sniffed out the secret ingredient in Aunt Mole’s stink bug stew: earthworm). With his “eye for details” (questionable) and his deerstalker hat and trench coat, he knows he would make an excellent gumshoe. He just needs a case. When Grandpa Squirrel goes missing, Oscar is ready for action. He sketches a detailed (if, um, imprecise) picture of the subject and questions the forest dwellers. Then he investigates the crime scene and interrogates known criminals like the magpie. He knows not to fall for false leads. He gathers his evidence and tries to connect it. A walk to the lake might clear his mind…or put him where he needs to be to learn the most important quality of a true detective: being in the right place at the right time. Deftly translated from the Italian by Bibo, Pintonato’s charming tale of a bumbling, want-to-be woodland detective is told in a mix of narration and speech bubbles. The sly cartoon illustrations of clothed creatures, created in Photoshop, provide much of the humor. Budding detectives will solve the case long before Oscar and catch the many crimes he misses. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
The (ample) fun is in the details. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-305178-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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BOOK REVIEW
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