Sure to banish cold-weather doldrums.
Escargot tires of winter and searches for signs of spring.
Even with a cozy blanket, stacks of good books, and a salad puzzle strewn on the floor, poor Escargot is feeling out of sorts. The tiny snail questions readers: “Does it seem like my eyes are not so bright? / Do my tentacles look droopy? / Perhaps my trail isn’t quite as shimmery as before?” Escargot has “ennui.” Not even hot chocolate sounds good anymore. Escargot decides to dig away at the snow that’s piled up at the front door (readers will realize that the “snow” is in fact a fluffy bunny’s hindquarters) and slide outside to find the first signs of spring. Escargot saunters off. But wait. Escargot leans in to whisper conspiratorially: “Is it just me, or is that snowbank following us?” “Oh lá lá!” Indeed, it’s not snow; it’s a bunny! With sad eyes and bowed tentacles, Escargot sighs, “You probably think the bunny rabbit is adorable. / More adorable than a French snail…” Hanson’s gentle watercolors bring to life a charming verdant landscape. Equal parts insecure and boastful, Escargot embodies the roller coaster of emotions that many youngsters feel on any given day. Not to fear: Flowers are finally found and friendships are formed, but the steady, slimy path of chatty dialogue is, as usual, magnifique.
Sure to banish cold-weather doldrums. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780374314279
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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
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