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. 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. In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty. Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.) 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. 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. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. 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. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. The characters’ comical expressions and the pigs’ feisty messages to the farmer will leave readers in stitches.Ĭertain partners to Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin’s Duck, these hogs (and their mud-loving message) are sure to delight.Ī home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature. With their soft lines and muted colors, McMullan’s watercolors lend the book an old-fashioned feel that is echoed in the rather elongated faces of the horses and the overall-clad, fresh-faced farmer. When he crashes into the muddy pigsty, readers may think he’ll explode with anger, but they are in for a surprise. His last attempt involves his crop duster and some shampoo, but unfortunately, he forgets the gas. Pigs love dirt- / so go away!” The clever farmer tries to trick those pigs, but to no avail-a shower by hose instead of a bath just makes more mud for them to wallow in. Those sassy porkers board up their pen and write rude messages expressing their displeasure with having to get clean: “No hogwash / for us today. In rollicking rhyming verse, Wilson describes how Farmer washes each horse, duck, cow, goat, cat and dog. Farmer takes spring cleaning to the extreme in this barnyard romp.
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