Bubbling over with a singular charm of its own, this book will have kids going ape over the monkeyshines here.
In this sparsely worded tale, an older sibling of messy twins turns out to be uniquely gifted at meeting the needs of a particularly prankish ape during a family trip to the zoo.
As their mother blithely attends to her phone rather than her offspring, it’s up to the protagonist to pick up the detritus of those pesky little sibs. Perhaps recognizing her eldest’s frustration, their mother encourages the beleaguered kid to climb up a rope trellis to something called the “Monkey Walk.” The protagonist complies only to find both hat and personal gaming device snatched by quick orange fingers, which is all readers see of the troublemaker till the end. Trades are suggested via signs held by various animals including (to the protagonist’s understandable, “Oh, you have got to be kidding” reaction) penguins for the device. The denouement reveals the thief to be a multitalented orangutan (not the titular “monkey,” but that’s neither here nor there). With a keen eye to the importance of detail, Madden immediately and easily sets the tone, the feel, and the characters. Refreshingly, the book avoids the proselytizing tone so many picture books succumb to when addressing the hand-held electronic world. Instead, this light and airy storytelling opts to show rather than tell. The protagonist’s family all present white, but other zoo visitors are diverse.
Bubbling over with a singular charm of its own, this book will have kids going ape over the monkeyshines here. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-88898-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too many bugs, figuratively.
Lucy, “the youngest member of a family of fireflies,” must overcome an irrational, moon-induced anxiety in order to leave her family tree trunk and glow.
The first six pages pull readers into a lush, beautiful world of nighttime: “When the sun has set, silence falls over the Big Forest, and all of the nighttime animals wake up.” Mixed media provide an enchanting forest background, with stylized flora and fauna eventually illuminated by a large, benign moon, because the night “doesn’t like to catch them by surprise.” Turning the page catches readers by surprise, though: the family of fireflies is decidedly comical and silly-looking. Similarly, the text moves from a lulling, magical cadence to a distinct shift in mood as the bugs ready themselves for their foray into the night: “They wave their bottoms in the air, wiggle their feelers, take a deep, deep breath, and sing, ‘Here we go, it’s time to glow!’ ” It’s an acceptable change, but more unevenness follows. Lucy’s excitement about finally joining the other bugs turns to “sobbing” two nights in a row. Instead of directly linking her behavior to understandable reactions of children to newness, the text undermines itself by making Lucy’s parents’ sweet reassurances impotent and using the grandmother’s scientific explanation of moonlight as an unnecessary metaphor. Further detracting from the story, the text becomes ever denser and more complex over the book’s short span.
Too many bugs, figuratively. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-84-16147-00-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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