by Felix Gumpaw ; illustrated by Glass House Graphics ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 2, 2021
A fast-paced, shenanigans-packed winner; readers will howl for the next one.
Puppy sleuths at an all-animal elementary school unite to stop the Lunchtime Bandit in this series opener.
Pawston Elementary School is filled with bright-eyed and often literally bushy-tailed young students, all of whom are young animals of a wide variety of species. Rider Woofson, self-declared “greatest puppy detective in the whole school,” meets Rora Gooddog when they find themselves working the same case from different sides: a ring of toughs who fight with pencils, cracked in a deliciously pun-filled double-page spread. A super-science mishap introduces them to bespectacled, lab coat–clad inventor Westie Barker, and then the doggy detective team is rounded out by the ever hungry Ziggy Fluffenstuff, already on the trail of the Lunchtime Bandit. The foursome sets off to stop the “cafeteria crook.” When the sneaky scoundrel evades their clever-yet-stinky trap, the detectives and their quarry engage in a battle of wits, schemes, and counterschemes. In the end, they corner and identify the culprit only for him to remain a hop ahead—until his own hubris and bad deeds catch up with him, allowing the heroes to make the catch. The plentiful humor mostly relies on wordplay and alliteration, diversions into gross-out territory landing on stinky beans and garbage rather than potty humor. Character designs are rounded and bright; the neat panels use clear linework and standard comic-book conventions for readability and expressiveness.
A fast-paced, shenanigans-packed winner; readers will howl for the next one. (Graphic mystery/comedy. 5-9)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-7495-6
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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by Felix Gumpaw ; illustrated by Glass House Graphics
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by Felix Gumpaw ; illustrated by Glass House Graphics
by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2010
Hee haw.
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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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by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley
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by Doug MacLeod ; illustrated by Craig Smith
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by Adam Osterweil and illustrated by Craig Smith
by Kwame Alexander & illustrated by Tim Bowers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2011
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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by Kwame Alexander & Deanna Nikaido ; illustrated by Melissa Sweet
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by Kwame Alexander ; illustrated by Dare Coulter
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