Wearing its heart on its sleeve, this story has a mission, but it’s a worthy one.
Bella the rabbit narrates this earnest story about caring for pet rabbits in the home.
Bella was born in a barn on a farm, part of a huge family of bunnies. The farmer sells the baby bunnies to a pet store, where a brother and sister choose Bella as an Easter present. The children play with Bella at first, but then they lose interest in her, and her cage is left outside without adequate food or water. Another girl, Rosalita, rescues Bella and takes her to a much better life in her house. Rosalita quickly wins Bella’s affection and then teaches her how to use play equipment in a rabbit-sized obstacle course. They go on to participate in a competition course with other rabbits, and Bella wins a ribbon for her performance. Though Bella’s transformation from nervous victim to confident performer is unrealistically fast, her story is touching and draws attention to the plight of unwanted pets purchased without adequate planning and preparation. Pleasant illustrations in candy-bright colors make Bella an appealing character, though she sometimes seems more like a toy bunny than a real rabbit. An author’s note gives more information about pet house rabbits and lists additional resources.
Wearing its heart on its sleeve, this story has a mission, but it’s a worthy one. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-940719-19-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Gryphon Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
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
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
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