An inspiring, multilayered reminder that true friends are hard to find.
A kitten searches for her best friend, a dog, in Westgate-Silva’s picture book.
Based on the true story of a K-9 pet rescue team, the book begins when a family places their pets in separate kennels to go on vacation. Daisy, a kitten, and Bear, a dog, are usually inseparable. The feline escapes to look for her pal, but she gets lost in the city and becomes frightened. As days and nights pass, a neighborhood lady calls Daisy by her name; bowls of Daisy’s favorite food appear wherever she goes; and a crate in the park accidentally traps a raccoon, who’s later freed. Occasionally, Daisy catches a whiff of Bear in the air. She eventually realizes that her family may be searching for her, so she takes a leap of faith. Handoko’s full-color, cartoon-style illustrations effectively animate the animals’ expressions and drop nontextual clues: A woman holds a lost-cat flier featuring Daisy’s name, and maps show the characters’ proximity to one another and hint about a K-9 team’s role. The crisp, dynamic prose captures Daisy’s moments of fear and triumph, which provide consistent excitement. Backmatter includes a narrative of the real events that inspired the story, which provide context for a second, more nuanced reading.
An inspiring, multilayered reminder that true friends are hard to find.Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9798988185444
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Luminohr Books
Review Posted Online: June 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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