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SEÑORITA GORDITA

Name: SEÑORITA GORDITA
Author: Helen Ketteman
ISBN: 978-0-8075-7302-0

by Helen Ketteman & illustrated by Will Terry ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2012

A welcome retelling, particularly suited for reading aloud to groups.

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A sassy gordita attempts to outwit a bevy of desert creatures in this retelling of "The Gingerbread Man."

Ketteman and Terry (The Three Little Gators, 2009) reteam for this cumulative tale centered on the escapades of a fleet-footed, deep-fried corn cake. From her humble beginnings in the oven of Araña (spider), Señorita Gordita sets off across the Southwestern desert, besting the spider, a lizard, a rattlesnake, a scorpion, a javalina and a coyote. All of these animals are eager to enjoy a taste of the feisty, chatty snack, but “with a flip and a skip and a zip-zoom-zip,” Señorita Gordita manages to escape them all. When she arrives at the saguaro where Búho (owl) awaits, she may have finally met her match. The author introduces young readers to Spanish vocabulary through desert geography, flora and fauna, including all of the animals in the tale. Although saguaros and regional clichés abound, the illustrator’s use of brilliant colors and humor will hold the attention of younger and older readers, as will Señorita Gordita’s parting words to each of the animals she escapes. The author’s inclusion of a recipe for gorditas rectifies the story’s abrupt ending.

A welcome retelling, particularly suited for reading aloud to groups. (Spanish glossary, recipe) (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: March 1, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-8075-7302-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Whitman

Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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by Helen Ketteman ; illustrated by Bonnie Leick

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AT THE OLD HAUNTED HOUSE
by Helen Ketteman ; illustrated by Nate Wragg

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THERE ONCE WAS A COWPOKE WHO SWALLOWED AN ANT
by Helen Ketteman ; illustrated by Will Terry

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WHERE ARE YOUR SHOES, MR. BROWN?

by Justin Rhodes ; illustrated by Heather Dickinson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 14, 2023

Pedestrian.

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Mr. Brown can’t help with farm chores because his shoes are missing—a common occurrence in his household and likely in many readers’ as well.

Children will be delighted that the titular Mr. Brown is in fact a child. After Mr. Brown looks in his closet and sorts through his other family members’ shoes with no luck, his father and his siblings help him search the farm. Eventually—after colorful pages that enable readers to spot footwear hiding—the family gives up on their hunt, and Mr. Brown asks to be carried around for the chores. He rides on his father’s shoulders as Papa gets his work done, as seen on a double-page spread of vignettes. The resolution is more of a lesson for the adult readers than for children, a saccharine moment where father and son express their joy that the missing shoes gave them the opportunity for togetherness—with advice for other parents to appreciate those fleeting moments themselves. Though the art is bright and cheerful, taking advantage of the setting, it occasionally is misaligned with the text (for example, the text states that Mr. Brown is wearing his favorite green shirt while the illustration is of a shirt with wide stripes of white and teal blue, which could confuse readers at the point where they’re trying to figure out which family member is Mr. Brown). The family is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Pedestrian. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: March 14, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-5460-0389-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals

Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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TOYS GALORE

by Peter Stein ; illustrated by Bob Staake ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 2013

Clever verse coupled with bold primary-colored images is sure to attract and hone the attention of fun-seeking children...

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A fizzy yet revealing romp through the toy world.

Though of standard picture-book size, Stein and illustrator Staake’s latest collaboration (Bugs Galore, 2012, etc.) presents a sweeping compendium of diversions for the young. From fairies and gnomes, race cars and jacks, tin cans and socks, to pots ’n’ pans and a cardboard box, Stein combs the toy kingdom for equally thrilling sources of fun. These light, tightly rhymed quatrains focus nicely on the functions characterizing various objects, such as “Floaty, bubbly, / while-you-wash toys” or “Sharing-secrets- / with-tin-cans toys,” rather than flatly stating their names. Such ambiguity at once offers Staake free artistic rein to depict copious items capable of performing those tasks and provides pre-readers ample freedom to draw from the experiences of their own toy chests as they scan Staake’s vibrant spreads brimming with chunky, digitally rendered objects and children at play. The sense of community and sharing suggested by most of the spreads contributes well to Stein’s ultimate theme, which he frames by asking: “But which toy is / the best toy ever? / The one most fun? / Most cool and clever?” Faced with three concluding pages filled with all sorts of indoor and outside toys to choose from, youngsters may be shocked to learn, on turning to the final spread, that the greatest one of all—“a toy SENSATION!”—proves to be “[y]our very own / imagination.”

Clever verse coupled with bold primary-colored images is sure to attract and hone the attention of fun-seeking children everywhere. (Picture book. 4-7)