Pinkney’s mixed-media illustrations are colorful, spirited, and as gorgeous as anything he’s ever done, but fail to save...
Lester’s original fable is clever, but ultimately disappointing.
All the kids in the world are tired of doing as they’re told, so their teddy bears send them a dream telling them to say “no” to their folks. High on his mountain, Albidaro, the Guardian of Children, hears the dream. To play a trick on his sister (Olara, the Guardian of Animals) he tells the dream to visit all the animals too. Pandemonium ensues. Though it allows for some funny scenarios (“Olara swooped down. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ . . . ‘Trying to make this par three, if you’ll be quiet,’ one monkey replied”), Lester takes a long time to set it up, and the story ultimately feels ungrounded, as it is difficult to identify the symbolism or message. Lester’s language is intricate and often lovely, but tends toward the sentimental here. He uses “sweet,” “flower,” “teddy bears,” “dream,” “happy,” “butterfly,” and “heart” all in one sentence. The terms “hippopatamussesessssss” and “rhinossyhorses” feel out of place, as the rest of the language is very straightforward.
Pinkney’s mixed-media illustrations are colorful, spirited, and as gorgeous as anything he’s ever done, but fail to save this story. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8037-1987-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2000
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
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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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