Simple but silly and satisfying. (Picture book. 4-6)
Wild adventure follows when some lemurs take a shine to a slightly wary boy.
The boy is holding an ice cream cone, and the lemur clutches a red flower. Their eyes lock; the lemur’s smile says it all: “[O]nce a lemur takes a liking to you, there is not much that can be done about it.” The boy tries to slip away, even climbing up a tree, but he can’t shake the lemur, who manages to attract a few more. The boy hops on his bike, but he can’t elude the quartet of lemurs following on a bike of their own. In no time, the boy’s being hugged by several new pals who want to play. Still uncomfortable, he hops on a train, takes to the sky in a hot air balloon, jumps in a boat to cross the lake, climbs the highest mountain, and travels through the desert in the scorching heat, on a camel. And on every leg of this odyssey, the lemurs aren’t far behind...though they are hiding. When the boy decides that he has eluded the lemurs, he realizes that he’s far from home and doesn’t know how to get back. That’s where his determined new friends come in. Preston-Gannon’s lemurs are quite adorable. Each two-page spread is beautifully evocative, with basic shapes and shrewd use of white space.
Simple but silly and satisfying. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4549-1131-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
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
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
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