Pure entertainment.
The bumbling and lovable detective is summoned by Petunia Skunk to solve a ridiculous mystery.
From the start, accessible text and detailed art combine to create a silly, merry frolic. The leonine protagonist, whose actions and behaviors are entirely anthropomorphic, is clad in quasi-traditional spy clothes: fedora and trench coat—both turquoise-colored. A single sentence opens the story: “Agent Lion was hard at work.” The double-page spread shows him flying a red kite across a bucolic scene with blue skies, green grass, and picnickers. After his secret radio sends him to upscale Hotel Du Lox, Agent Lion foists his kite upon the concierge and follows Petunia to the scene of the crime: a large room devoid of its earlier party decorations and treats. Delightful art—often in split frames on a page—complements a text in which Petunia strives for, and finds, clues while Agent Lion’s comical blunders include misinterpreting evidence, falling into a custodian’s mop bin, and being distracted by the hotel’s considerable amenities. Still, he borders on pomposity. There is a refreshing lack of rancor, however, even from accused suspects. Illustrated animals are clever human parodies—even including the hotel’s framed artwork. Mrs. Walrus, well-appointed, smartly dressed, and enormous, is especially funny. The case’s solution will have been evident to observant readers from the start, but that would have spoiled all the fun, as Mrs. Walrus points out. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 44% of actual size.)
Pure entertainment. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-286918-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
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
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
