A story as warm and amusing as a small, fuzzy feline.
A close family disagrees, survives minor disappointments, and rejoices, together.
Narrator Mommy, who is pale-skinned; Daddy, brown-skinned; and children Rosie and Tulip, brown-skinned, love cats and books but have differing opinions on what cat to adopt. Daddy reasons that an older cat would have a known personality, whereas a kitten could be “bitey” or “scratchy.” When Mommy votes “kitten” with the kids, Daddy, outnumbered, glowers. Mommy’s “scientific method” of name-choosing, intended to head off further debate, is an utter failure. So is the foray to a now-closed shelter, leaving Tulip in tears. Mommy then takes a midwinter day off work for the mission, firmly instructed by Rosie not to return without their kitten, and by Tulip that it must be “Super small and very cute.” Mommy dutifully trawls a distant shelter’s kitten cages, then suddenly spots a cat in a cramped carrier, his eyes “curious and bright.” Not a kitten, nor cute, nor an older cat, but “snuggly” and “smart.” Purrfect. Returning through snow on the bus, Mommy names him “Blizzard.” Everyone at home is thrilled, “even Daddy.” Wintry but warm illustrations, realistic and slightly simplified, mute the nonessential and complement the text by foregrounding the family. Words and pictures together suggest character and convey wry family interactions and connections. A bonus: kitty endpapers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A story as warm and amusing as a small, fuzzy feline. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781662651151
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Minerva/Astra Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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