Little Hoot

Starred review from January 21, 2008
The team that pertly turned the eat-your-vegetables dilemma upside-down with Little Pea
again puts reverse psychology to work, this time for the sake of bedtime. Like his legume counterpart, Little Owl has a great life—except for one thing: “All my other friends get to go to bed so much earlier than me! Why do I always have to stay up and play? It's not fair!” This follow-up lacks the full-strength visual quirkiness of Little Pea
: the peas' stripped-down roundedness (they were essentially a family of heads) made everything they did even funnier. The considerably more anthropomorphized owl family, on the other hand, feels recognizable, which blunts the comic impact of their bizarro worldview. Even so, this outing is not to be missed. Rosenthal and Krouse plant little gags throughout—when Little Hoot is seen at school, the lesson on the chalkboard reads “who/ whom/ whose”—and they sustain the joke with such twisted-logic gems as this one from Papa Owl: “I don't give a hoot what time your friends go to bed. In this family, we stay up late.” Ages 3-up.

April 1, 2008
PreS-Gr 2-Rosenthal successfully continues her twisted take on traditional childhood dilemmas that she began in "Little Pea" (Chronicle, 2005). Little Hoot is a happy owl except at bedtime. All of his woodland friends get to go to bed early, but he does not. "Why do I always have to stay up and play? It's not fair!" Little Hoot tries to convince his parents to let him retire early, only to be forced to play for one more hour. According to his father, he must stay up late if he wants to grow up to be a wise owl. His mother tells him, "Ten more minutes of playing, Mister. And please don't ask me again." Little Hoot flies straight to bed ignoring his parents' offers of bedtime stories and glasses of water. Detailed ink and watercolor illustrations are uncluttered and placed on plenty of white space. Text and art convey parental love, filial annoyance, and everything in between. This fun reversal of traditional bedtime woes is sure to be enjoyed by many children."Catherine Callegari, formerly at Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2008
Little Hoot is tired, but "when you're an owl you have to stay up late, late, late." Ink and watercolor drawings against expansive white backgrounds delicately delineate the young owl's atypical nighttime routine as he gamely proceeds through his required extra hour of playtime. Young readers will be amused by the story's reversal of the traditional bedtime scenario.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)