Syndetic Solutions - [Book Review for 9780803731523]

Knock, Knock!

by Saxton Freyman

Syndetic Solutions - [Book Review for 9780803731523]

Book Review

Publishers Weekly :

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Fourteen prominent picture book creators try their hands at knock-knocks in this follow-up to Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Each contributor gets the front and back of a page for the Knock, knock!/ Who's there? set-up and punch line. Tomie dePaola pictures a tropical-themed home with Gorilla tapping at the door. At the call of Gorilla who? an ape sweeps in to hug his hirsute sweetheart: Gorill-a' my dreams, I love you! In a contemporary vein, veggie photographer Saxton Freymann takes the Lettuce/ Lettuce who? dialogue at face value. With their black-eyed pea eyeballs, stalk noses and leafy mouths, two heads of greenery demand, Lettuce in! Dan Yaccarino pictures an alien astronaut asking, Peeka who? and gingerly opening a space-hatch to a cheerful orange monster with 17 peepers (Peek-a-boo, my eyes see you!); in Brett Helquist's nursery send-up, two placid pigs get a visit from a big bad wolf named Ima (Ima gonna huff, Ima gonna puff…). Of his peers, Henry Cole achieves perhaps the best nonsense spirit, drawing out the Esther who?/ Esther Bunny! joke for six go-rounds and a dozen panels. Chris Raschka pays homage to Maurice Sendak (Verdi who?/ Verdi Vild Tings Are!); and Boris Kulikov answers Amos who? with a giant, surreally creepy insect and the reply A mosquito bit me! Perhaps inevitably, the book offers a decidedly mixed bag; however, pint-size comics—for whom no knock-knock joke is ever too stale—will see gems where adults find the groaners. Ages 4-up. (Sept.)

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School Library Journal :

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Gr 1–4—It takes a talented artist to infuse an ordinary joke with laugh-out-loud humor. This book, a companion to Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? (Dial, 2006), boasts 14 artists who achieve just that. Using a variety of mediums, such well-loved children's illustrators as Chris Raschka, Tomie dePaola, and Peter H. Reynolds offer hilarious and stylistically diverse visual explanations for who's knocking at the door. Old "knock, knock" standbys include "Who's there? Ice cream....I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream," interpreted by Yumi Heo, and "Lettuce who?" with Saxton Freymann's photographs of leafy green heads pleading, "Lettuce in!" Readers will appreciate the book's vibrant colors and the clever interplay between text and pictures. Regrettably, each artist provides only a single joke spanning two pages of this standard-length picture book. The 14 knock-knock jokes simply whet one's appetite for more humor. As such, this title and its equally appealing predecessor may prove most valuable as a set.—Madeline Walton-Hadlock, San Jose Public Library, CA

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In the fashion of Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? (2006),á14 children's-book artists (only Chris Raschka appears in both books) illustrate a different groan-inducing knock-knock joke in signature style. Saxton Freymann uses photos of lettuce ("Lettuce who?" "Lettuce in!") made to look like pigs. Tomie de Paolaácreates two love-struck gorillas to illustrate "Gorilla who?" "Gorill-a myádreams, I love you!" and so on.áAs in real life, there's always one mark thatárefuses to play along. In this case, it's Laurie Keller's Impatient Cow, whose "Moo!" interrupts the joke. The final two pages are devoted toáthe gallery of contributors;áthere's a likeness of each artist and a humorous statementáabout who they would want knocking at their doors.áDe Paola'sá response is "Sam an' Janet Evening." Don't get it? Try saying it aloud.áAlthough this isn'táas visually stunning asáChicken, the artwork is still just great andávaried enough to keep children turning the pages. Enos, Randall.

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