Arithmetic is as easy as one, two, three with the right approach.
The perverse pooch of Bark, George (1999) is back, obstinate as ever.
“One plus one equals what, George?” the pup’s patient mother asks. But George isn’t playing that game and instead of answering demands to be fed. “Two plus two equals what?” and subsequent posers are likewise stonewalled…until George falls asleep and dreams of trees—first one, then two, and on up to 10—demanding to be added up. “I don’t have time for this,” George complains. But as Feiffer, ever the master of psychological insight, well knows, the temptation to count is too strong for George, or young viewers, to resist for long. The slender tree trunks, each a different color to smoothly facilitate the arithmetical operations, line up against pale monochrome backdrops. In the characteristically minimalist cartoon illustrations they are joined in teasing the reluctant pup on to numeracy by a cat, a pig, a cow, the veterinarian first met in George’s debut, and finally George’s mother. She wakes her puppy up, and off they go for a walk so that George can show off those new counting skills. Where Bark, George mined the sight of the vet pulling animal after animal from George’s gullet for laughs, this follow-up is more quietly thoughtful, but Feiffer’s linework is as fine and fluid as ever, and his canny placement of speech balloons gives even the trees personality. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 49% of actual size.)
Arithmetic is as easy as one, two, three with the right approach. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-279099-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Michael di Capua/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
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