The only explanation anyone needs for why people love cats or hate them.
With whimsical wordplay, Tracy and Small chronicle a day in the life of a feline.
Most of the sentences in this story are sentence fragments. Nouns are turned into adjectives, and verbs are turned into nouns. A two-page sequence describes the cat in lines that nearly rhyme: “Sock-drawer slinker. / Keyboard tinkerer.” The cat is often seen committing acts of destruction, like flinging a teacup across the room. But Small’s drawings make the animal impossible to dislike. Its eyes never once have the same expression. Sometimes the cat catches its own image in the mirror, with a look of alarm. Sometimes the pupil creeps to the very edge of the eye, as though the cat is planning something devious and joyful. From time to time, the story is interrupted by a sort of refrain as the narrator reflects on what kind of day the cat is having. Just after the cat shreds a sofa, for example, the text reads, “What a happy day.” The line is both ironic and true, and it’s accompanied by a picture of one of the owners throwing the cat out of the house. The cat’s family presents as Asian. A teacher might have difficulty explaining the parts of speech on a particular page, but the book is easy to sum up: This is a poem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
The only explanation anyone needs for why people love cats or hate them. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-984815-20-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
This is a tremendously moving story, but some people will be moved only on the second reading, after they’ve Googled “How to...
A hug shouldn’t require an instruction manual—but some do.
A porcupine can frighten even the largest animal. In this picture book, a bear and a deer, along with a small rabbit, each run away when they hear eight simple words and their name: “I need a hug. Will you cuddle me,…?” As they flee, each utters a definitive refusal that rhymes with their name. The repetitive structure gives Blabey plenty of opportunities for humor, because every animal responds to the question with an outlandish, pop-eyed expression of panic. But the understated moments are even funnier. Each animal takes a moment to think over the request, and the drawings are nuanced enough that readers can see the creatures react with slowly building anxiety or, sometimes, a glassy stare. These silent reaction shots not only show exquisite comic timing, but they make the rhymes in the text feel pleasingly subtle by delaying the final line in each stanza. The story is a sort of fable about tolerance. It turns out that a porcupine can give a perfectly adequate hug when its quills are flat and relaxed, but no one stays around long enough to find out except for an animal that has its own experiences with intolerance: a snake. It’s an apt, touching moral, but the climax may confuse some readers as they try to figure out the precise mechanics of the embrace.
This is a tremendously moving story, but some people will be moved only on the second reading, after they’ve Googled “How to pet a porcupine.” (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Jan. 29, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-29710-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end.
Something is preventing Owl from falling asleep.
Owl leans back against his white pillow and headboard. “Squeek!” says something underneath the bed. Owl’s never heard that sound before, so he fastens his pink bathrobe and answers the front door. Nobody. It must be the wind; back to bed. Bidding himself goodnight, he climbs into bed—and hears the noise again. Time after time, he pops out of bed seeking the squeaker. Is it in the cupboard? He empties the shelves. Under the floor? He pulls up his floorboards. As Owl’s actions ratchet up—he destroys the roof and smashes the walls, all in search of the squeak—so does his anxiety. Not until he hunkers down in bed under the night sky (his bed is now outdoors, because the house’s roof and walls are gone), frantically clutching his pillow, does he see what readers have seen all along: a small, gray mouse. In simple illustrations with black outlines, textured coloring, and foreshortened perspective, Pizzoli plays mischievously with mouse placement. Sometimes the mouse is behind Owl or just out of his sightline; other times, the mouse is on a solid, orange-colored page across the spread from Owl, which removes him from Owl’s scene in a rather postmodern manner. Is the mouse toying with Owl? Who knows?
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-1275-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
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