Younger readers will relish the merriment; older readers may find deeper meaning.
Delessert’s signature surreal style is an apt accompaniment to a story inspired by Edward Lear.
Perched atop a 1,000-year-old beech tree is a lonely bear. More fantastical than realistic, this bear sports the titular “fuzzy, furry hat” bedecked with ribbons and bells. When the bear gives the hat a shake, the jingling attracts cardinals, who land on its head and enjoy the “fuzzy grass.” Soon a wild assortment of animals follows, from tiny, airborn alligators and elephants to sizable butterflies and flying fish, and they begin to make more music and build homes on the hat. This whimsical and vibrantly illustrated scenario derives from Edward Lear’s nonsense poem “The Quangle Wangle’s Hat,” in which an imaginary creature rests atop a funny tree and draws an equally outrageous mix of animals with the music of its hat. Here Delessert departs from the original and adds to the story as a few giant raindrops turn into a deluge that lasts for months. During the rain, the animals make the best of their situation, hunkering down together and shielding one another as they can. Up high and safe in the hat, they rejoice with music once again when the sun returns. Readers of Delessert’s previous picture books will recognize many familiar creatures as well as some that are named in Lear’s poem.
Younger readers will relish the merriment; older readers may find deeper meaning. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56846-296-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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
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
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