Just like a sunny day, this book will leave its readers with warm feelings.
Two playful pups and their cat companion step outside for a fun-filled romp.
Poor Pepper, Boo, and the Cat—they’ve been trapped inside for five rainy days. But it’s sunny at last! And there’s a giant box wrapped in polka-dot paper with a big purple bow. Twelve paws are ready to celebrate, but readers learn that what sparks joy for each critter is very different. The Cat is excited for a sunny day outside. Pepper and Boo know they could celebrate a day without the Cat by staying indoors, playing with toys, running through the halls, and enjoying their treats without interruption, but they want to enjoy the great outdoors, too. Celebrating outside for the Cat means climbing trees. For Boo, it means rolling in the wet grass, while Pepper prefers sitting on the warm bricks. All the pets have a small, controlled scare: The Cat loses their grip on the tree but catches the branch with their strong claws; a game of hide-and-seek is a little too scary for Pepper. The day is capped off with a perfectly cozy surprise when everyone comes back inside and the present has been opened—it’s a gift they can all share, just as they’ve shared this most special day. With minimal text and many visual jokes throughout, this charming series addition touches on responsible decision-making and relationship skills for evolving readers.
Just like a sunny day, this book will leave its readers with warm feelings. (Graphic early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5509-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
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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