A chortle-worthy, if sketchy, continuation of Ganesha: The Wonder Years (2015).
The elephant-headed—and, here, -bodied—Hindu god throws his considerable weight around in this lunar pourquoi tale.
So annoyed is Ganesha after being tripped up by a snake that he condemns the guffawing Moon to darkness: “There, this from now / on shall be your curse, / to be hidden forever, / be glad it’s not worse!” “NOOOO,” wails the Moon, and “WHAT’S HAPPENING??” cry frightened villagers. Even the gods are frightened, and so at their appeal, Shiva gently guides his pachydermatous offspring into a compromise that allows the Moon to cycle monthly from dark to light “and everything in between.” This well-known traditional episode is available in more elaborated versions in Uma Krishnaswami’s collection The Broken Tusk, illustrated by Maniam Selven (1996), and widely online. Here it is related in lumbering verse and illustrated cartoon-style in large sequential panels. Clad in a loincloth that looks rather like a red-and-yellow diaper, portly Ganesha cuts a comical figure, though his innate good nature isn’t really in evidence. Still, both his mighty pratfall and the broad-faced Moon’s exaggerated expressions of glee, dismay, and finally relief set a light tone.
A chortle-worthy, if sketchy, continuation of Ganesha: The Wonder Years (2015). (sticker sheet) (Graphic folk tale. 5-8)Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-93-81182-16-1
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Campfire
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
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
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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