“WARNING!” says the jacket flap; “This book contains wild animals!” Indeed it does in a stunning collection of poems by first-rate poets that is enlivened by full-page electric-hued paintings sure to show up across a room as well as dazzle up close. The topic—scary animals—is dear to school-aged children, but appropriately, lest the book appear to demonize animals, the opening poem is John Gardner’s “Always Be Kind to Animals,” for “Animals have feelings too, / And furthermore they bite!” Healthy respect, coupled with fascination with the unknown, the unusual, the gross, and the dangerous, informs most of the poems. Dick King-Smith’s “If you fall into a river that’s full of Piranha, / They’ll strip off your flesh like you’d skin a banana” is accompanied by glowing yellow fish, toothy mouths open wide. Poets include Eve Merriam, Maxine Kumin, Ogden Nash (“if called by a panther, / don’t anther”), Russell Hoban, Mary Ann Hoberman, Hilaire Belloc, Karla Kuskin, Valerie Worth, D.H. Lawrence, William Jay Smith, and others. Animals include the viper, alligator, hawk, shark, lion, vulture, eel, octopus, barracuda, and the bat. Wild and wonderful. (Picture book/poetry. 5-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-670-03513-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2001
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
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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