Reviews for Cockatoos
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Weary of hearing the same greeting day after day--``Good morning, my fine feathered friends!''--Professor Dupont's ten cockatoos fly the coop. He searches every room of his elaborate, old house without spotting them--but readers will, for they're all there, slightly concealed. Blake's illustrations are, as ever, funny and filled with lively detail; but while this doubles as a counting book, it's as airy and weightless as a feather. (Picture book. 5-7)
Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Fiction: PB Being a man of orderly ways, every morning Professor Dupont greets his ten cockatoos with the same remark. This nearly drives the poor birds bonkers, so one day they slip out of the conservatory through a broken window. Although the professor can't find his fine birds, the alert young reader will be able to spot them on every page. Blake's absurd, scratchy drawings give the story an added dimension. Horn Rating: Superior, well above average. Reviewed by: aaf (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
A daft professor and his frustrated cockatoos take part in a zany game of hide-and-seek sure to tickle sharp-eyed readers. Professor Dupont never strays from his regimented daily routine--from tying his tie to adjusting his glasses to greeting his pets by saying ``Good morning, my fine feathered friends!'' Deciding they will ``go crazy if they had to listen to the same words once again,'' the birds take refuge in various rooms in the house to teach their owner a lesson. Kids will love spotting the colorful plumage behind every corner and cushion--easily visible to everyone but the hapless professor, who stumbles about in humorous ignorance searching for his avian companions. (The birds' frantic expressions as they desperately attempt to remain hidden are positively smashing.) Convinced their message has been delivered, the satisfied birds are back on their branches the next morning, only to discover that ``Some people never learn.'' Blake's characteristically effusive drawings enhance the silliness of this thoroughly engaging ditty. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
PreS-Gr 2-- Blake's cockatoos have flown from his ABC (Knopf, 1989), where they represent the letter C, to a book of their own that gradually emerges as a counting book. Ten of these multicolored birds live in a leafy conservatory in the home of Professor Dupont. To say that the professor is a man of routine is an understatement; not only does he do the same awakening chores in the same order each day, but he also gives an identical greeting to his cockatoos--``Good morning, my fine feathered friends!'' One day they become so annoyed by this repetition that they escape from the conservatory and hide throughout the man's large house. They elude him, but, if readers look closely at the scratchy, funny watercolor double-page spreads, it is apparent that they have not gone far. The busy, detailed illustrations complement the text, showing Dupont's puzzled search. This is a book that will be enjoyed most by a child who reads it alone or shares it with a friend. --Carolyn Jenks, formerly at Oyster River Elementary School, Durham, NH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Ages 3-8. A fussy, helpless adult is the target in this funny picture story that also turns out to be a counting book. Professor Dupont, nattily dressed with lorgnette and three-piece suit, always does things exactly the same way. Every morning he greets his 10 pet cockatoos in the conservatory with the same declamation, "Good morning, my fine-feathered friends!" They think they'll go crazy if they have to listen to those words ever again, so they escape and hide. He searches for them everywhere--dining room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, attic, cellar, etc.--but doesn't see them hiding. In counterpoint to the bland words, Blake's scratchy line-and-watercolor illustrations reveal the grotesque beneath the domestic surface (the cook boiling the professor's breakfast egg is like a witch over a cauldron). After the first count, the text never mentions the number of cockatoos, but the pictures show them hiding, 1 in the dining room, 2 in the kitchen, and so on up to 10, 1 more bird in each place he looks. You start off wondering if you're seeing things, and end up relishing the joke. ~--Hazel Rochman
