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Dumont, Jean-François
5 Reviews
(2)
K-3
Translated by Leslie Mathews.
A bear lives in a nest of cardboard and newspaper on a city street. He describes his challenges: hunger, apathy of passersby, and inadvertently inciting fear in others. His life changes when a girl sees him for what he really is--"You look like a teddy bear"--and begins to visit him daily. The painterly art features off-kilter perspectives--exactly right for a story about dislocation.
Reviewer: Nell Beram
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2015
(3)
K-3
Curmudgeonly rat Edgar is outraged when an earthworm starts following him. He asks various animals to help him catch it, but nothing works until he nabs the cheeky worm himself. Readers may not guess the amusing truth until the end: the worm is Edgar's own tail. Expressive, texture-rich illustrations cleverly show earthworms minding their own business underground, as well as Edgar's antics aboveground.
Reviewer: Martha Sibert
(3)
K-3
Readers can sympathize with goose Zita, whose feet just won't follow the rigid rhythm set by the flock's lead goose. Left to walk alone, she inadvertently creates her own beat and attracts a noisy animal parade, with different animals adding new sounds and rhythms. In the entertaining illustrations, Dumont shows these patterns by using different typefaces and arranging sounds strategically on the page.
Reviewer: Martha Sibert
(4)
K-3
Tired of being sheared ("Why are we always the ones?"), some sheep go on strike. This is Click, Clack, Moo by way of Animal Farm: the narrative, which is somewhat dense, includes the activist buzzwords "revolution," "demonstrators," and "police brutality." Not that this compromise-promoting book isn't a lot of fun: e.g., the illustration of the marchers and their adversaries is (bloodless) slapstick hilarity.
Reviewer: Nell Beram
(3)
K-3
When the chickens discover a hedgehog on the farm, they decide to build a protective wall around the henhouse. Upon the project's completion, they learn that they have enclosed the hedgehog. There's more to the book than that cute gag: it's about facing our fears of the unknown. Like the story, the art takes its time, inviting reflection--and smiles.
Reviewer: Nell Beram
5 reviews
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