A nice respite from tales of Pilgrims and of turkeys hiding from farmers.
Turkey loves to eat, and he loves his barnyard friends…but how many Thanksgiving dinners can one turkey eat?
“Pig, Horse, Goat and Sheep, Cow, and Mouse had each invited him to Thanksgiving dinner at their homes.” When Turkey thinks of all that good cooking, he’s sure he can handle five dinners. After stomach-stretching exercises, he heads to Pig’s for a yummy stew (worms included). He clears his plate and thinks it’s wonderful to feel a part of the family. After a nosh at Horse’s, Turkey has that same wonderful feeling playing race with the family. On to Goat and Sheep’s, Cow’s, and Mouse’s, where again he feels wonderfully at home (though his vest gets tighter and tighter). During the Mouse family parade, Turkey sees all his friends come out to watch; he’s so surprised and stuffed, Turkey topples over. He thinks it was worth it to spend time with all his friends…but next year, he decides he’ll just host them all at his house. Kenah’s holiday turkey tale of friendship and food will make animal lovers and vegetarians smile. Turkey, who looks both a little platypuslike and a little chickenesque in Talib’s textured cartoon illustrations, obviously enjoys all the company as much as he does stuffing his beak.
A nice respite from tales of Pilgrims and of turkeys hiding from farmers. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-76109-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end.
Something is preventing Owl from falling asleep.
Owl leans back against his white pillow and headboard. “Squeek!” says something underneath the bed. Owl’s never heard that sound before, so he fastens his pink bathrobe and answers the front door. Nobody. It must be the wind; back to bed. Bidding himself goodnight, he climbs into bed—and hears the noise again. Time after time, he pops out of bed seeking the squeaker. Is it in the cupboard? He empties the shelves. Under the floor? He pulls up his floorboards. As Owl’s actions ratchet up—he destroys the roof and smashes the walls, all in search of the squeak—so does his anxiety. Not until he hunkers down in bed under the night sky (his bed is now outdoors, because the house’s roof and walls are gone), frantically clutching his pillow, does he see what readers have seen all along: a small, gray mouse. In simple illustrations with black outlines, textured coloring, and foreshortened perspective, Pizzoli plays mischievously with mouse placement. Sometimes the mouse is behind Owl or just out of his sightline; other times, the mouse is on a solid, orange-colored page across the spread from Owl, which removes him from Owl’s scene in a rather postmodern manner. Is the mouse toying with Owl? Who knows?
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-1275-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
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