by Karma Wilson & illustrated by Jack E. Davis ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
Overlaid with hoofprints, but also filled floor to ceiling with clutter and bric-a-brac, Davis’s full-bleed domestic scenes furnish a backdrop to an unseen narrator’s mystified rhyme, as an array of wildlife looks on: “There are wood chips in my guest bed, / but a beaver spent the night. / He got hungry, and the bedpost / looked so good, he took a bite. / Wood chips, I remember. / But who left all these moose tracks?” Young readers will be on tenterhooks to find out—but neither writer nor illustrator provides a clue to the culprit. Until the final scene, that is, when the complainer finally puts in an appearance, sporting both antlers and an air of injured innocence—“Why, look at me—I AM a moose / and I don’t make a mess!” Yeah, right. Neat freaks and most parents will be eager to share this breezy outing with the slobs in their lives. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-689-83437-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2006
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by Doreen Cronin & illustrated by Harry Bliss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2005
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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by Mo Willems ; illustrated by Mo Willems ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 2014
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
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