In this giggle-inducing tale, the Indiana Jones of bugs escapes to sleep another night, snug as a bug.
This bug makes the case for not answering the doorbell.
“I’m as snug as a bug in a rug, I am,” says a bug with pink spots. “There has never been a bug / in THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD / so happily snug as me!” When the doorbell rings after the bug has already retired for the night, they grumble but answer it anyway. From there, it’s one misadventure after another as a parade of different animals demand their dinner, aka the bug. Our protagonist periodically recites the “I’m as snug as a bug” verse that began the book, hilariously replacing the phrase “in the whole wide world” with their current terrifying situation: “IN A CAVE OF CERTAIN DEATH,” “IN A FOREST OF DOOM.” After narrowly escaping a flight on the back of a bird, a trip down a waterfall, and like perils, will the bug finally be digested in the stomach of a croc? Not likely. “I may be small… / but I’m mighty!” And when the doorbell rings again after this adventure? Well, the bug doesn’t have a choice—it’s mom come calling. The hapless bug will entertain readers as they ping-pong from one danger to the next with their fuzzy yellow slippers, bug eyes, antennae, and four arms (always in motion) expressing their every emotion while the predators leer hungrily. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
In this giggle-inducing tale, the Indiana Jones of bugs escapes to sleep another night, snug as a bug. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9780711274860
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Happy Yak
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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