A young polar bear with a case of insomnia sneaks out for a midnight dance in this happy bedtime adventure. With eyes wide open long after sunset, a little bear gathers up his favorite toys, thumps down the stairs, and scoots out the door to the “place where the wide-awake meet.” There: “Over oceans and mountains, / across rivers and streams . . . / the Polar Bolero makes / you DANCE in your dreams.” After all of that whirling and twirling, however, the “wide-awakes” find themselves starting to wilt. Soon the youthful truant is safely ensconced in his bed once again, settling down to sleep with a loving hug and soft kiss from mom. While the perky tempo and fanciful prose sweep readers up in the exuberance of the tale, Gliori’s fantastical illustrations steal the show. Her oversized, full-page, color-laden watercolors draw readers into a chimerical universe overflowing with whimsy—one in which a hot-air balloon–shaped moon presides over a merry melée of frolicsome creatures. Varying perspectives greet each turn of the page, often with a huge image—of bear’s behind, or mom’s outsized back as her arms sweep wide. Gliori’s wry humor abounds in her illustrations: the polar bear’s “house” is revealed to be an old-fashioned refrigerator and shadowy images of his fellow nocturnal revelers make up the pattern of the quilt on his bed. Unabashed fun that is bound to resonate with sleepless tots and dance them to dreamland. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-15-202436-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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Hee haw.
32
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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. 29, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both!
Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. “Duck said, loud as he could quack it, / ‘THUNDER’S JUST A NOISY RACKET!’ ” In the quiet after the storm, the barnyard friends are sleepy, but the garage is not their home. “ ‘Beep!’ said Blue. ‘Just hop inside. / All aboard for the bedtime ride!’ ” Young readers will settle down for their own bedtimes as Blue and Toad drop each friend at home and bid them a good night before returning to the garage and their own beds. “Blue gave one small sleepy ‘Beep.’ / Then Little Blue Truck fell fast asleep.” Joseph’s rich nighttime-blue illustrations (done “in the style of [series co-creator] Jill McElmurry”) highlight the power of the storm and capture the still serenity that follows. Little Blue Truck has been chugging along since 2008, but there seems to be plenty of gas left in the tank.
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-85213-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION
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