June 15, 2022
In former Saturday Night Live cast member Moynihan's picture-book debut, a toad narrator fighting sleep introduces readers to all the exciting sheep they know. People count sheep in order to fall asleep, ergo sheep are boring. But the toad, who sports a green striped shirt and black shorts on stick-thin limbs and has an iron bedstead in the sheep's field, wants to prove otherwise. One by one, the toad introduces sheep like Alice, who has both a jet pack and a helmet (Alice is both "smart AND cool"), Julie, who loves dancing and coffee, and Mike H., who "likes to eat pickles while sitting in a big wet boot." Gary, who doesn't know what pasta is, is just plain weird, but weird isn't boring. The parade of sheep gradually gets less and less cool, from Dan, who requires extra exclamation marks to seem hipper, to Katie, who has never actually pranced on the moon, and finally to Steve. Steve is a sheep in a tan vest and headphones using a metal detector in the field. And Steve IS boring, but "that doesn't mean...that ALL...sheep...are...NOT...ALL...SHEEP...ARE...Zzzzzzz." Rowan-Zoch's digital illustrations keep the details simple to focus on the droll sheep, plain white or the bright green of the pasture serving as backgrounds. Still, readers may have different ideas as to which sheep are boring...and may fall asleep long before they reach Steve. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Hopefully readers' own flocks are either livelier or more conducive to sleep; this toad's will do in the meantime. (Picture book. 3-6)
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August 15, 2022
Sheep are more than just numbers (or are they?), hints SNL alum Moynihan with this sly debut, a series of sheep profiles that seek to prove the titular conceit. First up is Alice, clad in a jet pack and a helmet: “Alice is smart/ AND cool. See?!/ A sheep with a jet pack?!?/ Alice is NOT boring!” There’s also coffee-loving Julie, pickle aficionado Mike H., and Quinn, who “enjoys a slight wind/ and also standing.” As the list goes on, the sheep seem increasingly humanlike—culminating with Jessica, who “used to date Gary.” By the end, even the frog that appears in each spread has grown weary, conceding that sheep Steve is indeed “a little boring... very boring... EXTREMELY boring,” and dropping off to sleep. The humor on display here might be beyond kid readers, but Rowan-Zoch creates a fluffy mutton cast with amusing mannerisms and accoutrements for an effect that’s decidedly not boring. Ages 4–8.