Wealthy, serious businessdog Mr. Basset learns the value of friends and play in this humorous cautionary tale. With the help of his terrier servant, Walter, Mr. Basset explores a too-rich adult’s idea of play: they buy a 60-foot yacht, collect works of art, and try horseback riding, but none of these pursuits satisfies Mr. Basset. He grows sad and withdrawn, until “his nose was warm and his fur had lost its luster.” Faithful Walter looks out the window one day at puppies and kittens playing ball, and suddenly realizes what Mr. Basset has been missing: friends. Walter takes Mr. Basset outside, where the depressed dog growls at the sight of the youngsters, until a ball sails his direction and he catches it in spite of himself. From there, it’s easy to join in the game, and the next day, Mr. Basset bounds out of bed, eager to play with his friends, including Walter. The text is full of phrases and words that remind readers the main characters are dogs; Mr. Basset “barks” and “whimpers” his words instead of “saying” them, and doggy expressions like “a list as long as the hind leg of a greyhound” add humor. The art is also full of such details: Mr. Basset’s important morning reading includes the Dog Street Journal and the Daily Wag; a computer on his desk is logged onto Barksberg.com. The large size of the soft, bright illustrations and the clear design make this a good choice for sharing with friends. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2003
ISBN: 1-59078-007-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2003
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
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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