Serves up fun (and likely a waffle craving)—a good bet for breakfast reading.
Will this woodpecker wishing for waffles win one?
“One morning, Benny awoke to the best tummy-rumbling smell.” He follows his nose to the grand opening of Moe’s, home, so the sign says, of the hot waffle breakfast. Benny doesn’t exactly know what a waffle is, but when he sees one, he knows he wants one. Every attempt to get one ends in a boot or a broom from the beehived, bespectacled white waitress. When his animal friends catch him thinking about waffles and plotting to get one, they laugh and tell him, “Woodpeckers don’t eat waffles!”—but only pushy Bunny has a reason. (Kind of: “Because I SAID so.”) So Benny details his spectacular plan to get a waffle (involving cannon and juggling and fireworks and musical numbers). His description of his plan draws an animal audience around the diner the next morning…but will it net Benny a waffle? Breen’s adorable and determined woodpecker knows what he wants as surely as Willems’ Pigeon does, but Benny may be a bit smarter. His attempts (and final success) will have preschoolers giggling and begging for a second helping. Ink, watercolors, colored pencils, and “artistic genius” were used to make the cartoon illustrations that add the perfect subtle and slapstick humor to Benny’s quest.
Serves up fun (and likely a waffle craving)—a good bet for breakfast reading. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234257-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
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
Yes, the Pigeon has to go to school, and so do readers, and this book will surely ease the way.
All the typical worries and excuses kids have about school are filtered through Willems’ hysterical, bus-loving Pigeon.
Told mostly in speech balloons, the bird’s monologue will have kids (and their caregivers) in stitches at Pigeon’s excuses. From already knowing everything (except whatever question readers choose to provide in response to “Go ahead—ask me a question. / Any question!”) to fearing learning too much (“My head might pop off”), Pigeon’s imagination has run wild. Readers familiar with Pigeon will recognize the muted, matte backgrounds that show off the bird’s shenanigans so well. As in previous outings, Willems varies the size of the pigeon on the page to help communicate emotion, the bird teeny small on the double-page spread that illustrates the confession that “I’m… / scared.” And Pigeon’s eight-box rant about all the perils of school (“The unknown stresses me out, dude”) is marvelously followed by the realization (complete with lightbulb thought bubble) that school is the place for students to practice, with experts, all those skills they don’t yet have. But it is the ending that is so Willems, so Pigeon, and so perfect. Pigeon’s last question is “Well, HOW am I supposed to get there, anyway!?!” Readers will readily guess both the answer and Pigeon’s reaction.
Yes, the Pigeon has to go to school, and so do readers, and this book will surely ease the way. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-04645-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
