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BILL IN A CHINA SHOP

The title sets up the funny premise as Bill, a bull, collects china cups, but his size and clumsiness create havoc in china shops. When he finds a store without a “Bulls Keep Out” sign and a cup that he can’t do without, disaster ensues. Three tottering ladies save him from crashing disgrace and to thank them, he invites them to tea. The rhyming text of two- and three-line stanzas has humorous moments but it’s the pen-ink-and-watercolor illustrations that ping with panache: finely detailed, cross-hatched dishes and Bill in a morning coat, striped trousers, top hat, and bow tie. Though kids will not likely know the expression, there is a note about it on the verso, and the depiction of Bill’s hulk amid the fragile china will imprint the meaning. The ending clinks some and in one illustration a key object falls into the page gutter, but as the appealing cover promises, Bill has more charm than bull. (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003

ISBN: 1-58234-832-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2003

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BECAUSE YOUR DADDY LOVES YOU

Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: May 23, 2005

ISBN: 0-618-00361-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Clarion Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005

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THE LAMB WHO CAME FOR DINNER

A sweet iteration of the “Big Bad Wolf Mellows Out” theme. Here, an old wolf does some soul searching and then learns to like vegetable stew after a half-frozen lamb appears on his doorstep, falls asleep in his arms, then wakes to give him a kiss. “I can’t eat a lamb who needs me! I might get heartburn!” he concludes. Clad in striped leggings and a sleeveless pullover decorated with bands of evergreens, the wolf comes across as anything but dangerous, and the lamb looks like a human child in a fleecy overcoat. No dreams are likely to be disturbed by this book, but hardened members of the Oshkosh set might prefer the more credible predators and sense of threat in John Rocco’s Wolf! Wolf! (March 2007) or Delphine Perrot’s Big Bad Wolf and Me (2006). (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007

ISBN: 978-1-58925-067-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tiger Tales

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2007

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