Arithmetic is as easy as one, two, three with the right approach.
The perverse pooch of Bark, George (1999) is back, obstinate as ever.
“One plus one equals what, George?” the pup’s patient mother asks. But George isn’t playing that game and instead of answering demands to be fed. “Two plus two equals what?” and subsequent posers are likewise stonewalled…until George falls asleep and dreams of trees—first one, then two, and on up to 10—demanding to be added up. “I don’t have time for this,” George complains. But as Feiffer, ever the master of psychological insight, well knows, the temptation to count is too strong for George, or young viewers, to resist for long. The slender tree trunks, each a different color to smoothly facilitate the arithmetical operations, line up against pale monochrome backdrops. In the characteristically minimalist cartoon illustrations they are joined in teasing the reluctant pup on to numeracy by a cat, a pig, a cow, the veterinarian first met in George’s debut, and finally George’s mother. She wakes her puppy up, and off they go for a walk so that George can show off those new counting skills. Where Bark, George mined the sight of the vet pulling animal after animal from George’s gullet for laughs, this follow-up is more quietly thoughtful, but Feiffer’s linework is as fine and fluid as ever, and his canny placement of speech balloons gives even the trees personality. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 49% of actual size.)
Arithmetic is as easy as one, two, three with the right approach. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-279099-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Michael di Capua/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too many bugs, figuratively.
Lucy, “the youngest member of a family of fireflies,” must overcome an irrational, moon-induced anxiety in order to leave her family tree trunk and glow.
The first six pages pull readers into a lush, beautiful world of nighttime: “When the sun has set, silence falls over the Big Forest, and all of the nighttime animals wake up.” Mixed media provide an enchanting forest background, with stylized flora and fauna eventually illuminated by a large, benign moon, because the night “doesn’t like to catch them by surprise.” Turning the page catches readers by surprise, though: the family of fireflies is decidedly comical and silly-looking. Similarly, the text moves from a lulling, magical cadence to a distinct shift in mood as the bugs ready themselves for their foray into the night: “They wave their bottoms in the air, wiggle their feelers, take a deep, deep breath, and sing, ‘Here we go, it’s time to glow!’ ” It’s an acceptable change, but more unevenness follows. Lucy’s excitement about finally joining the other bugs turns to “sobbing” two nights in a row. Instead of directly linking her behavior to understandable reactions of children to newness, the text undermines itself by making Lucy’s parents’ sweet reassurances impotent and using the grandmother’s scientific explanation of moonlight as an unnecessary metaphor. Further detracting from the story, the text becomes ever denser and more complex over the book’s short span.
Too many bugs, figuratively. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-84-16147-00-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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