Slightly creepy, funny and fun.
A boy receives a stuffed animal that he really doesn’t like—and it’s not hard to see why.
Koala arrives in an exciting, striped gift box, but still, Adam pulls faces and insists, “I don’t like Koala.” His parents don’t understand, but readers will. Koala doesn’t look soft or friendly, and he’s alarmingly mouthless. When Adam wakes up in the morning, Koala’s tiny claws are pressing into Adam’s cheek. It’s too bad that Santoso uses strabismus (in which one eye’s focus doesn’t align with the other’s) to portray the cold, yellow stare of Koala’s “terrible eyes.” Hijacking strabismus, a real-life condition, to indicate danger or symbolize creepiness is a distinctly questionable choice. Otherwise, the tale is hilarious, especially Adam’s (unsuccessful) attempts to banish Koala. At bedtime, “Adam puts Koala away. Away is a lot of different places”—inside a saucepan, atop the fridge, behind a plant and in a purse. Like that fabled cat, Koala always comes back. Even an intentional abandonment trip—over hills, around rocks, among trees—doesn’t work. Meanwhile, clever artwork shows that Adam may not have traveled as far as he claims. Santoso’s sly pencil illustrations, colored digitally in a mostly blue, gray and brown palette, resemble animation with shading and texturizing lines. The end features a twist and a closing line worthy of Sandra Boynton’s But Not the Hippopotamus (1982).
Slightly creepy, funny and fun. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-0068-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Desperation confused for hysterics.
Harris’ latest makes an urgent plea for somber reflection.
“Stop! Stop!! Stop!!!” Right from the get-go, readers are presented with three rules for reading this book (“Don’t look at this book!” “Do look at your listener!” “Get your listener to look at you!”). But the true lesson is in the title itself: If anyone listening to this book laughs, you have to start it all over. Challenge accepted? Good. Sheer frenetic energy propels what passes for a narrative as the book uses every trick up its sleeve to give kids the giggles. Silly names, ridiculous premises, and kooky art combine, all attempting some level of hilarity. Bloch’s art provides a visual cacophony of collaged elements, all jostling for the audience’s attention. Heavily influenced by similar fourth wall–busting titles like The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992) by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith, and the more contemporary The Book With No Pictures (2014) by B.J. Novak, these attempts to win over readers and make them laugh will result in less giggles than one might imagine. In the end, the ultimate success of this book may rest less on the art or text and more on the strength of the reader’s presentation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Desperation confused for hysterics. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-42488-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pedestrian.
Mr. Brown can’t help with farm chores because his shoes are missing—a common occurrence in his household and likely in many readers’ as well.
Children will be delighted that the titular Mr. Brown is in fact a child. After Mr. Brown looks in his closet and sorts through his other family members’ shoes with no luck, his father and his siblings help him search the farm. Eventually—after colorful pages that enable readers to spot footwear hiding—the family gives up on their hunt, and Mr. Brown asks to be carried around for the chores. He rides on his father’s shoulders as Papa gets his work done, as seen on a double-page spread of vignettes. The resolution is more of a lesson for the adult readers than for children, a saccharine moment where father and son express their joy that the missing shoes gave them the opportunity for togetherness—with advice for other parents to appreciate those fleeting moments themselves. Though the art is bright and cheerful, taking advantage of the setting, it occasionally is misaligned with the text (for example, the text states that Mr. Brown is wearing his favorite green shirt while the illustration is of a shirt with wide stripes of white and teal blue, which could confuse readers at the point where they’re trying to figure out which family member is Mr. Brown). The family is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Pedestrian. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5460-0389-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
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