Raccoons, their appetites, and their washing habits should be a winning combination, but this story is unlikely to satisfy
A community of raccoons is happy catching their own food, but one dreams of something more gourmet.
“Muddy was ordinary…but he couldn’t stand ordinary raccoon food.” He and his family live by a river, but “he refused to eat frogs, slugs,” and other wild-caught delicacies, preferring “garbage—any leftover food he could find—and he liked to eat it on plates.” He and his community used to live in a city but were driven out into the wilderness by the humans they disturbed. Muddy refuses to give up, though, sneaking across the river to steal food from the new waterside restaurant and bring plates back to his home. The other raccoons, afraid of getting into trouble, wash the plates (as raccoons are wont to do) and take them back, scaring off the diners—and leaving the raccoons with the abandoned feast. Raccoons could be charming protagonists. Unfortunately these, randomly sporting bow ties and scarves, are crudely drawn and inconsistently anthropomorphized, failing to tap into the potential charm of these strange creatures. Despite a strong beginning, the storytelling lacks any bolstering structure, and as a read-aloud it falls flat, with clunky transitions and irrelevant, tongue-tangling details.
Raccoons, their appetites, and their washing habits should be a winning combination, but this story is unlikely to satisfy . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4337-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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