A hilarious reminder for all: Beware the cats—especially those with dubious claims and credentials.
A guileless child, a duplicitous “dog,” and an ill-fated fish cross paths.
A shout tears through a quiet night. The young narrator’s beloved pet fish is lying on the ground, surrounded by broken glass. (Luckily, the child finds the fish a makeshift home in time.) Who could have done such a dastardly deed? Just then, Ramon Fellini the Dog Detective arrives. While Ramon may look like an ordinary tuxedo cat, he tells the protagonist that he’s “a dog in a cat costume”—and a Master of Disguise. Ramon peppers the child with rapid-fire questions, then decides to take the investigation, and the hapless victim, outside—you know, in order “to recognize the suspect.” Nothing to see here! Ramon returns alone, having reached a truly unbelievable conclusion. All’s well that ends well…or is it? Though the protagonist remains blissfully unaware, the illustrations and Ramon’s slip of the (scratchy) tongue make it crystal clear who’s to blame for this catastrophe, earning this Brazilian import, translated from Portuguese by the author, a well-deserved spot amid the slew of stories in which the main character skips blithely into disaster while a delighted audience screams, “You’re going the wrong way!” The expressive artwork is appealing; the light-skinned, wide-eyed, bespectacled moppet is all worry and naïveté, while self-assured Ramon, with his magnifying glass and case file, is a delightfully devious detective. This is a charming read for those who like their stories a little macabre—and a lot tongue-in-cheek.
A hilarious reminder for all: Beware the cats—especially those with dubious claims and credentials. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780802856364
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
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
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BOOK REVIEW
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