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
BOOK REVIEW
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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
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