When it’s time to choose a pet, a young witch named Mitzi requires something that is definitely not cute or cuddly. Her creepy relatives have appropriately creepy pets, like piranhas and crocodiles, and one so creepy that it cannot be identified. At the pet store, the shop lady with the short green nose and long blue teeth helps her in selecting from an assortment of repulsive creatures. Mitzi brings home a slimy toad and a pair of bats, but they don’t participate in her activities or respond to her in any way. The toad just keeps eating bugs and the bats just “hang around with each other.” When a kitten appears at her door, she reluctantly invites it in. Though it is “simply not creepy enough” and much too cute, she discovers that it provides true companionship and love. She names the kitten “Hoodwink,” in recognition of her surprise at actually loving a pet so adorable. In a nice twist on the homily, she admits that appearances are indeed deceiving. Howard employs simple, child-friendly language that never simpers. His colorful, appealing cartoon illustrations go beyond the text to depict a charming, eccentric little witch doing perfectly ordinary witchlike activities. Mitzi may be a witch, but she is entirely non-threatening. She eats “Rice Creepies” for breakfast, travels to the pet store by broomstick, reads “Vulture Culture” with great interest, and wears slippers that look surprisingly like the Tasmanian Devil. These illustrations enhance and enrich an amusing story that is sure to please. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-15-202656-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2001
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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All the reasons why a daughter needs a mother.
Each spread features an adorable cartoon animal parent-child pair on the recto opposite a rhyming verse: “I’ll always support you in giving your all / in every endeavor, the big and the small, / and be there to catch you in case you should fall. / I hope you believe this is true.” A virtually identical book, Why a Daughter Needs a Dad, publishes simultaneously. Both address standing up for yourself and your values, laughing to ease troubles, being thankful, valuing friendship, persevering and dreaming big, being truthful, thinking through decisions, and being open to differences, among other topics. Though the sentiments/life lessons here and in the companion title are heartfelt and important, there are much better ways to deliver them. These books are likely to go right over children’s heads and developmental levels (especially with the rather advanced vocabulary); their parents are the more likely audience, and for them, the books provide some coaching in what kids need to hear. The two books are largely interchangeable, especially since there are so few references to mom or dad, but one spread in each book reverts to stereotype: Dad balances the two-wheeler, and mom helps with clothing and hair styles. Since the books are separate, it aids in customization for many families.
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned. (Picture book. 4-8, adult)Pub Date: May 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6781-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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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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