What can a pet rhinoceros do? Not a lot, unless it has hidden talents.
A boy looks in the window of an exotic pet store, enters the shop and chooses a rhinoceros. He’s a nice quiet pet and doesn't cause any problems, but he doesn’t do any regular pet things, either. No rolling over or fetching. According to an expert, he should be able to pop balloons and poke holes in kites, but a test run in the park is a dud. Did the boy get a lemon? Should he trade him in for a hippo? A series of mad events follows, in which robbers flee the scene of the crime in, you guessed it, balloons and kites, and our hero rhino saves the day. This special pet can fly, too! An improbable tale for sure, but Agee strikes just the right note. He tells it with an absolutely straight face in simple unadorned language that will have readers laughing out loud at the antics. The clever format begins the action before the title page, in a silent prelude to the narration. The heavily outlined cartoons are sharp and brightly colored and sprawl across the pages in perfect harmony with the text. Young readers might very well ask for a pet rhino of their own.
Lighthearted fun as a read-aloud or read-alone. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-545-29441-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Michael di Capua/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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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