Unless they are as good at hiding as Mouse, readers will be hard-pressed to apply any lessons learned here in their own...
A shy new student uses her best talent to ease into her first night at school.
Anxious Mouse has a clever solution for her first-night worries: she sneaks into school early and hides so as to avoid her classmates and teacher. But her manners are too good to ignore the black-hat–clad teacher when she asks if Mouse is present, and glasses-wearing Bat, Cat, Owl, and Miss Moon all compliment her excellent hiding ability. Then the five enjoy a rousing game of hide-and-seek (Mouse proves she’s the best, though observant readers may spot her) before a midnight snack. The slight tale doesn’t offer much for those who are similarly nervous or shy about their own first days of school. While the classroom is outfitted with some familiar school things, there are also some standouts that suit Moonlight School, including books of spells, a jar labeled “eyes of newts,” and a jar holding the classroom’s supply of magic wands. Pye’s digital illustrations are full of shadows brightened by both a few lanterns and the moon, never letting readers forget the specialness of this particular school.
Unless they are as good at hiding as Mouse, readers will be hard-pressed to apply any lessons learned here in their own lives. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7607-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
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
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
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