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Fans of Mo Willems's Elephant & Piggie series looking for read-alikes have cause to celebrate: Slack's dinosaur Shorty and quail Clem return for a second hilarious dialogue-balloon-driven battle of wills. This go-around, Clem doesn't want any help putting together a toy spaceship, but the persistent Shorty manages to lend a hand despite himself. Slapstick-abundant digital illustrations amplify the laughs.
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When dinosaur Shorty finds a package addressed to his quail friend Clem, his resolve not to open it soon crumbles. When Clem shows up, he acts outraged but then admits that the package contains Shorty's birthday gift. With dialogue-balloon-driven storytelling and the expressive, digitally illustrated animal duo set against stark backgrounds, Slack borrows heavily from Mo Willems's Elephant & Piggie books--and does it beautifully.
40 pp.
| Holt/Ottaviano
| March, 2017
|
TradeISBN 978-1-62779-194-6$16.99
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Turtle Tug, half-boat/half-turtle, guards "sea dwellers swimming on by." During a fierce storm, the brave "skipper with flippers" rescues various marine animals and "keeps everyone safe till the typhoon has passed." The simple rhyming text includes some challenging words (e.g., tempestuous), which listeners will understand in context. The mostly gray, blue, and green illustrations effectively convey the story's drama.
48 pp.
| Disney/Hyperion
| July, 2014
|
TradeISBN 978-1-4231-8347-1$16.99
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Young extraterrestrial Blip explores Earth with Zot, a device that identifies objects. For example, when Blip encounters a pink mud-splattered mound with a curlicue tail, Zot cautions, "Blip, stop!" "Zot, wazzzzzdot?" Blip asks. A page turn gives listeners a chance to guess: "PIG!" Blip's inexperience reflects preschoolers', and they'll get a kick out of knowing more than this blue visitor with the oversize football-shaped head.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2014
32 pp.
| Holt
| September, 2013
|
TradeISBN 978-0-8050-9304-9$15.99
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When a blue elephant with helicopter rotors and landing gear spies smoke, she flies in to rescue stranded animals, then slurps up water and douses the blaze with her "fire-hose nose." Told in rollicking rhymes that don't always scan or work precisely, the heroic Elecopter's rescue-mission adventures are better served by the candy-colored, action-packed digital illustrations.
32 pp.
| Holt/Ottaviano
| January, 2011
|
TradeISBN 978-0-8050-8878-6$12.99
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"Water is rising! / The hippos are stuck! / Spin those wheels! / Go, Monkey Truck!" The jungle animals can always count on Monkey Truck, whose "overdrive engine burns banana gas," to rescue them. Frolicsome art hints at the greater delight kids could experience if this primate-vehicle-hybrid protagonist were given a plot.