A weak sequel run off literally by the numbers, with pretty but sometimes unsettling pictures.
A fox frets that an old friend and a new one will shut him out if he introduces them in this follow-up to Before We Sleep (2021).
Having made friends with Brock the badger over the winter, Little Red can hardly wait for his longtime bestie Hazel the dormouse to come out of hibernation so that all three of them can play together. By the time Hazel emerges from her teapot home, Little Red has had second thoughts. But when his strenuous efforts to keep the two apart come to naught, Hazel laughingly reassures him that she’s not going to throw him over. Neither will Brock, as it turns out, and so all three gambol off—or, as Volpe puts it: “One, two, three, and they all started playing together, just as friends do.” Sprays of lovely flowers and greenery give Proietti’s misty, rolling woodland settings a sunlit, beguiling serenity…but along with, oddly, outfitting Hazel with trousers while leaving the other two animals au naturel, the artist cuts abruptly from spring to autumn with a page turn and finishes with an isolated view of Little Red looking disturbingly like he’s about to pounce on, say, a juicy dormouse. Next to the previous outing’s sensitive exploration of both the close relationship between Hazel and Little Red and the emotional stress of being separated (by impending winter), this all comes off as a mix of confusing visual missteps tied to a perfunctory bit of relationship chess. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A weak sequel run off literally by the numbers, with pretty but sometimes unsettling pictures. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-63655-028-2
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Red Comet Press
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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
Another quirky take on the series theme that it’s cool to be kind.
The cool beans again step up to do a timorous fellow legume a fava…this time at the pool.
Will a rash decision to tackle the multistory super-slide lead to another embarrassing watery fail for our shy protagonist? Nope, for up the stairs right behind comes a trio of cool beans, each a different type and color, all clad in nothing but dark shades. They make an offer: “It’s not as scary if you go with friends!” As the knobby nerd explains once the thrilling ride down is done, “They all realized that I just needed some encouragement and support.” Just to make sure that both cool and uncool readers get the message, the narrator lets us know that “there are plenty of kind folks who have my back. They’re always there when I need them.” The beany bonhomie doesn’t end at the bottom of the slide, with all gliding down to the shallow end of the pool (“3 INCHES. NO DIVING”) for a splashy finale. This latest early reader starring characters from John and Oswald’s immensely popular Food Group series will be a hit with fans. Fun accessories, such as a bean who rocks pink cat-eye frames, add some pizzazz to the chromatically and somatotypically varied cast.
Another quirky take on the series theme that it’s cool to be kind. (Easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780063329560
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
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