This fast-paced mystery is a fun addition to this series for new readers.
Smart dog King and his human, Kayla, help a lost dog find his people.
King and Kayla work together to solve mysteries, with King narrating their tales in his distinctive voice. The two are on vacation at Grandma’s house near a lake, and King discovers a new friend in the bushes. King soon learns that Fred lost his humans during the firecrackers “five or one nights ago.” His collar is lost, but Kayla guesses from his behavior that he is not a stray. Since Kayla can’t understand “a word Fred says,” King is the one to collect clues. He learns that Fred’s family is staying at a campground, but he can’t add this to Kayla’s “list of things we know.” He can’t add the campground’s location to Kayla’s “list of things we don’t know.” While Kayla tries to devise a plan, King tries to communicate his—find the campground! The humans don’t understand, but luckily, Kayla asks Grandma if they can ride on the lake and ask other boaters. From the water, Fred sees the campground, and he eagerly jumps, swims, and reunites with his people. Simple, clean, line-drawn and digitally colored illustrations depict happy, lovable animals and a diverse cast of humans. Kayla and Grandma are black, and Fred’s family is brown.
This fast-paced mystery is a fun addition to this series for new readers. (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68263-052-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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