A giggle inducer and a fun read at an upcoming birthday party.
Think carefully about your next party’s guest list.
Badger’s been invited to a birthday party—well, sort of. The invitation blew out of the mail carrier’s bag, and he picked it up. Badger’s always wanted to attend a party, and he’s sure the host will want to meet him. He’ll act very proper because he knows parties require perfect decorum. But things go less than smoothly. The other guests notice odd occurrences: Someone has made a cozy nest out of all the wrapping paper, clawed the birthday cake, burrowed into the host’s bed, attacked the piñata, used the hallway rug as a toilet, and buried the cheese platter in a potted plant. Who’s responsible? All the clues (pink icing on his snout, pawprints on the wall) make it clear that Proper Badger is to blame, but, as the narrator repeatedly tells us, “Proper Badger doesn’t know, because he did not do this.” Fed up, some guests believe Proper Badger should vamoose, but Proper Badger’s not quite ready to leave. This riotous tale, told in a tongue-in-cheek voice, will have kids chuckling and eagerly discussing whether they’d want to attend a party with Proper Badger. The colorful illustrations are energetic; Badger’s innocent expression is adorable. The birthday girl presents Black; the guests are diverse in terms of race and physical ability.
A giggle inducer and a fun read at an upcoming birthday party. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593528167
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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