Readers who can get over the story’s peculiar device will find a fine tale about the importance of keeping secrets and the...
Who or what is eating the best fruits in Jasmine’s garden?
The whole village knows Jasmine grows the best fruit—apples, cherries, kumquats, mangoes, papayas, and more—but every morning she awakens to find the nicest fruits nibbled. She hides one night and sees an elephant fall from the sky to crash in her garden and start eating her fruit. She tells him to stop, and he apologizes. In an abrupt transition, she grabs his tail, and they sail into the night sky into his garden, where the fruits are huge…but made of precious gems and thus not good to eat. He gives Jasmine a giant ruby strawberry. When she gets home, she tells her family of her adventure. Naturally, they all want to see the garden. She agrees and swears them to secrecy…but her little brother tells his friend, and soon the whole village knows. When the elephant falls that night, they all latch onto his tail in a chain—but alas, their impatience ends with everyone falling back to Earth. At least they still get to eat Jasmine’s fruit, while the elephant evidently moves on to quieter gardens. British author/illustrator Ray’s original tale seems to be set in South Asia. Her bright and vibrant illustrations feature brown-skinned people in saris and turbans and a brilliantly painted elephant; they swoop across the page and transport readers as would, say, a flying elephant.
Readers who can get over the story’s peculiar device will find a fine tale about the importance of keeping secrets and the dangers of greed. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-910716-22-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boxer Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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