The joy in hard work, above and beyond the gratification, feels absent in Bunnyland, which is a serious downer.
Everyone, bunnies included, must learn to make money the old-fashioned way. By earning it.
McLeod’s vehicle is a sweetly ambitious bunny named Bun who is all energy and hot colors; reds, oranges, and yellows splash her cartoon look. “I want to be RICH and FAMOUS!” Bun yodels (“rich” meaning lots and lots of carrots in Bunnyland). “And how are you going to do that, my dear?” asks the mother bunny, who is busy digging a garden; in her grays and blacks, she has as much joie de vivre as a toil-worn Russian serf. Bun’s solution is to become a famous singer, but mother explains that fame and fortune don’t come overnight: they are the product of “practice, practice, practice.” Bun is impatient to reach the limelight and does a little math, realizing that working her way up the ladder will require investment of work and carrots to reach goals along the way. “Then, if you keep earning carrots, you can save enough to record a song that lots of bunnies will buy.” Readers may wonder why Bun doesn’t simply plant 40 hectares of carrots. The economics lesson sits uneasily next to the emphasis on achieving fame; the last page feels entirely arbitrary, with its return to math and the reminder that Moneybunnies know what “counts”: “love.”
The joy in hard work, above and beyond the gratification, feels absent in Bunnyland, which is a serious downer. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-54444-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Count on construction die-hards falling in love, but discerning readers would be wise to look elsewhere for their...
Less ambitious than Chris Gall’s widely known Dinotrux (2009) and sequels, this British import systematically relegates each dinosaur/construction-equipment hybrid to its most logical job.
The title figures are introduced as bigger than both diggers and dinosaurs, and rhyming text and two construction-helmeted kids show just what these creatures are capable of. Each diggersaur has a specific job to do and a distinct sound effect. The dozersaurus moves rocks with a “SCRAAAAPE!!!” while the rollersaurus flattens lumps with a cheery “TOOT TOOT!!” Each diggersaur is numbered, with 12 in all, allowing this to be a counting book on the sly. As the diggersaurs (not all of which dig) perform jobs that regular construction equipment can do, albeit on a larger scale, there is no particular reason why any of them should have dinosaurlike looks other than just ’cause. Peppy computer art tries valiantly to attract attention away from the singularly unoriginal text. “Diggersaurs dig with bites so BIG, / each SCOOP creates a crater. // They’re TOUGH and STRONG / with necks so long— / they’re super EXCAVATORS!” Far more interesting are the two human characters, a white girl and a black boy, that flit about the pictures offering commentary and action. Much of the fun of the book can be found in trying to spot them on every two-page spread.
Count on construction die-hards falling in love, but discerning readers would be wise to look elsewhere for their dino/construction kicks. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-4779-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
