It’s a one-joke book, but with such master humorists at work, who needs anything more? (Board book. 1-3)
Renowned cartoonists Boynton and Booth team up for a delightful day in the life of canine George.
This white dog lives a sedentary life and prefers to sit and sport a sour grin as members of his family beckon him one by one. With the exception of who’s calling, the first several pages are identical: “HERE, GEORGE!” says a voice. But “George does not move.” However, after they leave the pooch on his own, he hears some music and gets up to dance Snoopy-style through a full double-page spread. When his humans return, they find George in the exact same position as they left him—but with some fond memories that summon a wag from “his happy tail.” Boynton closes the work with the clever aside: “And he is wild about dancing. (Which no one knows but you).” Booth’s iconic cartoon dog, made famous in the pages of the New Yorker, is constructed with a fluid and endearingly shaky line. He masterfully registers a change in mood with a simple upward flick of a cartoon grin or a sideways glance. Boynton’s text is a simple and playful complement, rendered a stand-alone visual element by the decidedly Booth-ian faux handwritten typeface.
It’s a one-joke book, but with such master humorists at work, who needs anything more? (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-2964-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.
The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.
A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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