Hilarious. How will Yam and Donkey top this? (Picture book. 5-8)
Ewe will love it! (You will too.)
Bell introduces readers to a humorous trio: the studious, bespectacled Yam, the slow-witted Donkey, and the titular, and mostly silent, Ewe. Donkey kicks off the foolishness in initially mistaking the anthropomorphic tuber and the female sheep for fellow donkeys. When Yam corrects these errors and explains that “this is Ewe,” the snowball of wordplay begins its long descent down the hill of wackiness. Along the way, readers learn what a homonym is. Bell fits a lot into the story, making good use of speech bubbles and sequential panels across spreads of the picture book. She also keeps the humor interlaced with moments of learning that play well with the page turns. The artwork is bold, with thick, black lines and bright, simple colors, so it will play well to the back of a storytime room or classroom. Some adults may find the multiple voices to be a challenge as a solo reader, but it’s well worth the effort, as the combination of language and images will have young readers in fits of giggles. The artwork beautifully conveys the zany hijinks. Following the pupils in Donkey’s googly eyes as it thinks about each new concept is a silly joy in itself.
Hilarious. How will Yam and Donkey top this? (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-52611-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
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
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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