Familiar ground, with an effulgent new look.
Three urban-dwelling foxes head to the countryside in search of a little quiet.
The trio lives in the big city, where it is all “rumble, rumble, chitter, chatter,” to which the foxes add their “hopping and bopping...banging and clanging.” Enough. “Wouldn’t it be nice to be quiet sometimes?” asks Fox Number One. Once in the country, they enter Goldilocks mode: the owl’s home is too high, the mole’s is too dark, the frog’s is too wet, and the badger’s is too quiet—a shrewd little twist that should make readers think. As the three wander through the youthful, color-crazy landscapes, they pull out their various noisemakers (“The noisy foxes were tired of being quiet”) and start up a woodland stomp. A passing, quiet-loving mouse shows the foxes the ideal place for them to find a home. Shifting into Wizard of Oz mode, they find themselves right back in their urban digs. Home is where the noise is. Clearly the storyline doesn’t turn any new turf, but Husband’s artwork is a showstopper. Some pages have as many as five panels, some are double-page spreads, so the flow is both nimble and steady. The characters have both eyes on one side of their heads, like flatfish, which somehow makes them extremely sympathetic; and the color is as rich and varied as a full deployment of the largest box of crayons.
Familiar ground, with an effulgent new look. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0154-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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