A highly enjoyable read-aloud about finding creative ways to be flexible.
In Keres’ picture book, Finn the Frog loves cleanliness, but he learns there are benefits to getting a little messy.
Finn is not like other frogs: He likes the book that he lives in, the very one that the reader is holding, to be picture perfect. He’s happy to share his home with his readers, but when someone with messy hands comes along, Finn does not stay calm for long. First are the orange cheesy puff fingerprints marking the pages that serve as the walls of his home; then grape juice sticks and drips along his home’s corners. It isn’t until the gum comes out that Finn begins to really panic. What’s a frog to do when a fly invades his home? It’s up to the reader to help Finn find better solutions on how to keep things clean. Keres’ entertaining story gives the reader a role in Finn’s life, staging the interaction as a potentially hilarious dialogue between reader and main character. Finn will even mention when to turn the page, giving the book a metanarrative quality. His aversion to messiness is funny, and the conclusion cleverly reveals why a frog is the star of this story instead of any other animal. Lin’s illustrations are colorful and perfectly represent Finn’s roller-coaster emotions. Like the text (“Wipe your hands and put that snack away RIGHT NOW!!”), the pictures interact with the reader, such as when a child’s hand appears to stand in for the reader’s hand on Page 21. This fun adventure story would make for a great read-aloud, just like its literary cousin Open Very Carefully: A Book With Bite! by Nick Bromley (2013).
A highly enjoyable read-aloud about finding creative ways to be flexible.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2022
ISBN: 9798985911268
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends.
Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both!
Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. “Duck said, loud as he could quack it, / ‘THUNDER’S JUST A NOISY RACKET!’ ” In the quiet after the storm, the barnyard friends are sleepy, but the garage is not their home. “ ‘Beep!’ said Blue. ‘Just hop inside. / All aboard for the bedtime ride!’ ” Young readers will settle down for their own bedtimes as Blue and Toad drop each friend at home and bid them a good night before returning to the garage and their own beds. “Blue gave one small sleepy ‘Beep.’ / Then Little Blue Truck fell fast asleep.” Joseph’s rich nighttime-blue illustrations (done “in the style of [series co-creator] Jill McElmurry”) highlight the power of the storm and capture the still serenity that follows. Little Blue Truck has been chugging along since 2008, but there seems to be plenty of gas left in the tank.
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-85213-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
