What do you call a chicken who saves her aunty chickens from the soup factory? That’s right, one “souper” chicken. At first it appears that young Henrietta’s reading habit gets her into trouble in the Auchs’s (The Princess and the Pizza, 2002, etc.) latest poultry parody. Henrietta reads anything she can get her wings on and neglects her egg-laying duties. But since her aunties aren’t laying many eggs either, their farmer schedules a “vacation” for them. Being the youngest of the bunch, Henrietta is kept behind and regretfully bids goodbye to her aunties, who think she’s being punished for all that silly reading. As the truck pulls away, Henrietta reads the back of it—“Souper Soup Company”—and realizes that her aunties are going on a one-way trip. Using her trusty reading skills, she finds the address to the soup company and manages to save some pigs and cows from a similar fate along the way. In a hilarious climax, the chickens end up at a vegetarian farm and Henrietta’s aunties finally understand the importance of reading. Though the writing is a bit heavy-handed and borderline preachy, the energy and humor can’t be ignored. The brightly colored collage-style illustrations demand attention—especially Henrietta’s big tortoise shell reading glasses. Reading teachers and vegetarians alike will appreciate the message and young readers will find lots to laugh about. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 15, 2003
ISBN: 0-8234-1704-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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