Quirky, but it lacks bite.
Who, of all the animals, has the mightiest bite?
A grinning, brown-skinned child has “20 teeth! That makes for a mighty bite. The mightiest bite in the world!” A succession of creatures, from a rabbit and dog on up, flash their dental credentials to assert the contrary. Cobra hisses, “I think you will find that I am the bitiest. And therefore the mightiest.” And even a dinosaur weighs in: “Yes, it is I, T. rex, back from being extinct to inform you all that your bites are piddly compared to mine. Check. It. Out. 60 bone-crunchers.” Unfortunately, the narrative’s rousing language isn’t reflected in Moran’s cartoon illustrations, where big eyes and exaggerated expressions of dismay play larger than the jagged but not particularly prominent teeth on display. In the wake of much roaring and posturing, in flits a toothless mosquito, exciting general scoffing until the tiny creature proves its supremacy by biting one and all…all that is, except the human youngster. And why is the child alone skipped? Because the youngster comes prepared with a spray tube of bug repellent, thus proving that at least when it comes to the “mightiest brain,” it’s no contest. Young readers will enjoy seeing the toothy competition topped by its tiniest entrant, but the closing twist feels as though it comes a bit out of nowhere.
Quirky, but it lacks bite. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9798765643518
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
A solo debut for Wenzel showcasing both technical chops and a philosophical bent.
Wouldn’t the same housecat look very different to a dog and a mouse, a bee and a flea, a fox, a goldfish, or a skunk?
The differences are certainly vast in Wenzel’s often melodramatic scenes. Benign and strokable beneath the hand of a light-skinned child (visible only from the waist down), the brindled cat is transformed to an ugly, skinny slinker in a suspicious dog’s view. In a fox’s eyes it looks like delectably chubby prey but looms, a terrifying monster, over a cowering mouse. It seems a field of colored dots to a bee; jagged vibrations to an earthworm; a hairy thicket to a flea. “Yes,” runs the terse commentary’s refrain, “they all saw the cat.” Words in italics and in capital letters in nearly every line give said commentary a deliberate cadence and pacing: “The cat walked through the world, / with its whiskers, ears, and paws… // and the fish saw A CAT.” Along with inviting more reflective viewers to ruminate about perception and subjectivity, the cat’s perambulations offer elemental visual delights in the art’s extreme and sudden shifts in color, texture, and mood from one page or page turn to the next.
A solo debut for Wenzel showcasing both technical chops and a philosophical bent. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5013-0
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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