Spidery good fun with a can-do message.
This book that combines nursery rhymes and folk songs about spiders with a first-day-of-school story about not giving up offers a little something for everyone.
Itzy Bitzy is not fond of his nickname. In fact, he is looking forward to his first day of spindergarten just so he can reinvent himself. But his big brother, Gutzy, isn’t helping. “Only spiderlings bring lunch boxes.” Determined to not be Itzy Bitzy anymore, Itzy purposefully “forgets” his lunch and his raincoat. But his lunch-catching web-spinning does not go well. A girl on a tuffet scares away the first fly he spies, an old woman swallows the second (along with Itzy!), and Itzy’s interrupted while making his third web by a cry for help from the waterspout. Proving his web-making prowess in more than one way, Itzy saves the day and has lunch to boot, and in the end, he doesn’t feel “one bit bitsy.” Pizzoli’s spiders manage to convey emotion through body posture, dot eyes and line mouths. The pencil, India ink, Plaka paint and Photoshop illustrations feature cartoon details against pastel, retro-type backgrounds. While appealing, they don’t quite match the tone of the text, and it can take some close looking to make out some of the details. Readers familiar with the allusions likely won’t care, though, as it’s so much fun to see old favorites in new tales.
Spidery good fun with a can-do message. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5811-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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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
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