Readers will enjoy their time with these two: another satisfying friendship adventure.
The droll dog-and-hedgehog duo is back, this time going to school.
As per usual, Buddy the dog is very matter-of-fact, naïve, and literal, while his prickly friend, Earl, sometimes lets his imagination take over reality. When Meredith (their white human owner) announces the two will be attending school, Earl is excited, since “Getting an education is the first step to achieving my dream of becoming a dentist.” Buddy doesn’t think hedgehogs can be dentists but is thrilled to learn that he too can be anything he wants with the right education. The two prepare themselves with a “nutritious breakfast” of Dad’s slipper and then gather some supplies. In the classroom, Earl is miffed at the other students, who not only refuse to return his greeting, but won’t even look at him. “They are only toys,” Buddy tells him. Then Meredith’s called away, and she leaves Earl in charge: “I’ve always wanted to be a teacher.” Buddy excels at Earl’s lessons in sniffing, tail-chasing, and itch-scratching and is the enthusiastic recipient of an earnestly presented special student award. Sookocheff extends the tongue-in-cheek humor of the text in the gouache-and-Photoshop illustrations, Earl’s simple dot eyes and line mouth expressing his every emotion and Buddy the epitome of a dog, simple but loving.
Readers will enjoy their time with these two: another satisfying friendship adventure. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-55498-927-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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
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