The story should please those hopeful readers who are puppy-starved themselves, while the learning hidden within should set...
Tongue-in-cheek, label-happy humor reminiscent of Mélanie Watts abounds in Harper’s latest, a genius pairing of fiction and nonfiction.
Starting off with some X-ray views of a young boy and his heart, readers are presented with some facts and misconceptions about the human heart, made painless by the humorous speech-bubble asides from Henry’s sister and friends. One fact above all is emphasized—a healthy heart that pumps blood and removes waste requires exercise and proper nutrition. Therefore, Henry’s mother sends him outside for some fresh air, and his Dad invites him for a walk downtown…the fateful walk on which he first sees the love of his life. She sets his heart beating so wildly that the anthropomorphized organ has to ask Henry’s eyes what is going on to cause such a reaction. Leaving the puppy in the pet store seems to break poor Henry’s spirit—he can only mope in his room, while his heart bemoans the lack of exercise. Henry’s concerned parents finally consult a doctor, whose prescription pleases everyone, especially Henry’s exercise-starved heart. Harper’s acrylic-and-collage artwork with its filled-in stick figures is a perfect match for the irreverent humor of the text. From the amusing asides to the charts about healthy snacks and causes of rapid heartbeats, there will be few page turns unaccompanied by laughter.
The story should please those hopeful readers who are puppy-starved themselves, while the learning hidden within should set parents’ and educators’ hearts aflutter. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8989-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
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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