This duck can say whatever it wants. We say “Hooray!” for this book’s purr-fectly delightful ending.
Children who are loved know exactly where they belong.
“Joy abounds” when Cow lets out a raucous moo, then encourages the other animals to sing. They comply with equal enthusiasm—the animals’ signature sounds are presented throughout in speech balloons with large capitals and exclamation points—but are confounded when Duck utters a smallish “meow,” rendered in lower-case letters. The animals urge their tiny feathered pal to “try again.” Unperturbed Duck’s having none of it, despite the other animals’ persistent efforts to remind their friend that mewing is the sound that cats, not ducks, make. Finally, Yak explains that Duck should be quacking, but Duck protests: “I don’t say ‘Quack.’” Just then, Duck calls out “Mama!” to an initially unseen animal. A cat appears, calling for her kittens. Can you guess who joins her and the other kittens—and why Duck proudly, happily says “meow”? This winning New Zealand import is told in rollicking verse that scans beautifully and will have listeners echoing the animal sounds with gusto from start to finish. The animal characters burst from the pages with lively, cheeky personalities, and endearing Duck’s qualities come through in the adorable, thick-lined illustrations. The conclusion is satisfying, and the book's theme of inclusion makes it a lovely selection to bring to the attention of adoptive families.
This duck can say whatever it wants. We say “Hooray!” for this book’s purr-fectly delightful ending. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: today
ISBN: 9781684648962
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Hee haw.
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. 28, 2018
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