It’s twee, but it will have its audience.
Cuddly animals everywhere are lucky to have Dr. KittyCat on call.
Dr. KittyCat and her faithful mouse nurse, Peanut, take care of a menagerie of little creatures and keep excellent notes in their Furry First-aid Book. Clover the bunny has scraped his ear on a bramble. Dr. KittyCat cleans it, bandages it, and gives him a sticker. And so it goes. After a busy day of healing bumps and scrapes, Dr. KittyCat wants to unwind by knitting, but her ball of yarn is missing. Before they can find it, an emergency call comes in. Posy the puppy has gotten stuck in a play tunnel while practicing for Paws and Prizes Field Day. Into the vanbulance! Can they free her and find out how it happened? Could it involve Dr. KittyCat’s ball of yarn? Posy was at her office earlier….Clarke’s first in a new series for those just starting chapter books is high on the sweetness scale. Plentiful illustrations mix black-and-white animal photographs with crayon-style line drawings in purple; unnecessary (and somewhat disturbing) mouths have been drawn on the animals’ faces. The book may be useful in helping those afraid of visiting the doctor (it may also prompt questions as to why the cat is not eating the mouse). Clover the Bunny publishes simultaneously.
It’s twee, but it will have its audience. (Fantasy. 6-9)Pub Date: March 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-87333-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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
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