Pinkerton & Friends

Pinkerton #6

by Steven Kellogg

For more than thirty years, Steven Kellogg has been delighting young readers with his bright, lively books full of feisty imagination and silliness --and always perfectly expressing children's thoughts and dreams. As his friend Helen Hunt says in her introduction to this treasury, Steven's books "give voice and bring humor to the mischievous in all of us." Because of that, Steven Kellogg has become one of our most loved picture book creators.

For the first time, here is a treasury of Steven's books, including many of his bestsellers (The Mysterious Tadpole, The Island of the Skog, Jimmy's Boa, Best Friends and others) and several little-known books that have been unavailable for many years. In all, eleven books are included--eleven gems to pore over again and again. And as an added bonus, there is also a biographical profile of Steven, complete with many photos and even some never-before-seen sketches. This is a compendium for every child--those who already love Steven Kellogg's books, and those who are soon to love them.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2004

About the author

Steven Kellogg is an author and illustrator who has contributed over 90 books for children. He is best known for writing books about animals, for which he credits his grandmother .

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

One day I suddenly wondered if reading all those Steven Kellogg books as a kid actually happened or if I made it all up. Even among children's book nerds, it's not a name that gets thrown around as much anymore the way Chris Van Allsburg or Graham Base or David Weisner does. And Kellogg is also not one of those authors with a single iconic title under his belt like "Caps for Sale" or "Alexander and the Horrible blah blah blah." He has the Pinkerton series that stars his Great Dane, which is a lot cutesier than the rest of his catalog. And he has a crazy number of Tall Tales retellings, which might make him look like he's one of those "learny" kinds of children's authors, which he's not.

The thing is, man, is Steven Kellogg is GOOD. That's all there is to it. His entire body of work is amazing, and grows more amazing the more of it you can see all at once. His books are crazy and touching and beautiful and they make my brain do flips. He has emotionally raw books about sad kids that you can relate to, and insane books about sea monsters charmed out of the ocean by bassoons. He has books about mice on pirate ships and books about blowing up your best friend in a volcano.

And don't even get me started on Jimmy's pet boa constrictor. HOLY CRAP I LOVE JIMMY'S PET BOA CONSTRICTOR.

And all of them -- ALL OF THEM -- are featured in this career-spanning retrospective. Seriously, I just used that phrase is in a sentence and it is totally legit. CAREER-SPANNING RETROSPECTIVE.

The only thing missing here is at least one inclusion from his Tall Tales series, which is too bad. The scene in Paul Bunyan where Paul and Babe fight mountain trolls is both hilarious and terrifying, and that alone deserves immortalizing in a tome like this.

But yeah, dude. Read this book if you are sad or bored or somehow mentally blocked and it will fix all of it. Or hell, read it if you're happy and JUST WATCH OUT FOR JIMMY'S PET BOA CONSTRICTOR HOLY CRAP.

Okay, that's all.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Steven Kellogg, took my kids several times to his book signings and talks. This was a treat to have so many of his stories in one volume.

[Nicholas & Megan Clinch · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Fjóla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great volume! I was curious about Steven Kellogg, but we'd only ever read The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash. The stories included in this compendium are: "Can I Keep Him?", "Won't Somebody Play With Me?", "The Island of the Skog", "Much Bigger Than Martin", "Pinkerton, Behave!", "The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash", "Ralph's Secret Weapon", "Best Friends", "The Christmas Witch", "Library Lil" and "The Mysterious Tadpole". All of the stories are amazingly illustrated, some of them more intricately than others, and for some of them the pictures are almost overloaded. I must admit that for Won't Somebody Play with Me? I only skimmed the pictures without taking everything in, but I didn't find that story very endearing either. I loved The Island of the Skog and the sort of outrageous Ralph's Secret Weapon, and we'd definitely want to learn more about Jimmy's Boa. My son had a soft spot for Pinkerton and I thought Much Bigger Than Martin and Best Friends were sweet, but I didn't care much for Library Lil, the fault of which probably mainly lay with the unremarkable storyline rather than the illustrations. We didn't make it to The Mysterious Tadpole before we returned the book, but we'll get to it next time.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Pinkerton! We should have named our dane that!

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kellogg's books are timeless and ageless -- brings back many memories of Pinkerton from childhood, as well as the boa who ate the wash : )

[Emma Thompson]

Pinkerton & Friends is a collection of Steven Kellogg's eleven previously-published books of Pinkerton, Jimmy's boa, and other creatures. The illustrations in all of Kellogg's books are my favorite part. Not only does he have the great dane in every story, but the illustrations are done in a way that make you feel comfortable and happy. There are such a wide range of colors that are used in the books, some blues giving off a relaxed feeling. There is also a giant yellow boa-constructor, and yellow is related to happiness.