From just out of the egg, Rooster is imbued with a sense of destiny. His fuzzy siblings make puny "peeps and cheeps," but he alone speaks in "glickles and gorks and flonks" that grow into a mighty pre-dawn "Cot Cot Cot Cot Ca-toodle tooooooo!" delivered from the coop roof. Day breaks, and Rooster exultantly takes credit. No one is more impressed than Rooster himself ("He felt lifted up, charged, holy") except for Smallest Hen, whose devotion he barely acknowledges. When Rooster slips in his timing and the sun comes up anyway, Smallest Hen saves his wounded pride by showing him how much better he can announce the sunrise than she can. It ends with the pair enjoying the sunrise together, Hen still clucking her approval (" 'Well done, Rooster,' bok-bokked Smallest Hen"). Although the overtones of gender entitlement are unfortunate, Conrad (Our House, 1995, etc.) provides a rousing comic tale and Beddows's brilliantly colored illustrations— appearing nearly three-dimensional in the use of detail, sculpting, and shadow—heighten the barnyard drama. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 1996
ISBN: 0-06-023603-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A book that will make young dog-owners smile in recognition and confirm dogless readers' worst suspicions about the mayhem caused by pets, even winsome ones. Sam, who bears passing resemblance to an affable golden retriever, is praised for fetching the family newspaper, and goes on to fetch every other newspaper on the block. In the next story, only the children love Sam's swimming; he is yelled at by lifeguards and fishermen alike when he splashes through every watering hole he can find. Finally, there is woe to the entire family when Sam is bored and lonely for one long night. Boland has an essential message, captured in both both story and illustrations of this Easy-to-Read: Kids and dogs belong together, especially when it's a fun-loving canine like Sam. An appealing tale. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8037-1530-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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