While nothing new, there is enough to engage celebratory tykes.
Rhyming text and playful art provide a list of all the qualities that make up “a Santa.”
“I’m seeking a Santa and everyone knows / Your eyes must be bright with red cheeks and red nose.” So begins the recounting of Santa’s aspects. Four elves (two white with blond and red hair respectively and two brown-skinned, with brown hair and freckles and black hair, respectively), cold-climate animals (including some evidently lost penguins), and other Christmas-y icons dramatize each of St. Nick’s qualities. The bold images pop with a retro, 1950s-advertising sensibility in poster-paint reds and greens. The rhymes scan with a pleasing rhythm. When Santa is finally shown, it is a very traditional representation of the bespectacled, old white elf in signature suit and hat. The companion title, Seeking a Witch, follows the same formula with various monsters, ghouls, and Halloween critters reciting a green-skinned, purple-haired witch’s attributes. While the reveals on the last double-page spreads are a little anticlimactic (they are both on the small side), these scenes make up for it in enthusiasm.
While nothing new, there is enough to engage celebratory tykes. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7674-4
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Cute and sprightly but not a standout.
Deck the stalls?
A bevy of barnyard animals, a cat, and some dogs get fully into the Christmas spirit by sprucing up the farm with colorful decorations, including holly berries and sparkling baubles. They have a great time and sing while going about their merry chores in a manner somewhat in keeping with the rhythm of the classic tune “Deck the Halls.” (In fact, a flock of sheep are shown holding song sheets for it.) As might be expected with these particular celebrants, some of the familiar lyrics are altered just a bit; for instance, “boughs of holly” is “translated” as “cows and holly.” Adult readers expecting the rhythm here to work exactly as it does in the original will be disappointed, because it doesn’t—it’s clunky. This is merely a brief, lightweight spoof of the familiar ditty, so it’s recommended that grown-ups read rather than sing this—except for that final line!—to very young targeted audiences, who may be unfamiliar with the actual song anyway. Some fun is still to be had in the illustrations, however. The spirited, wittily expressive animal characters are depicted having a fine time romping about and producing a variety of onomatopoeic sounds throughout. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cute and sprightly but not a standout. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66591-435-2
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Boynton Bookworks
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Leave the hopping to Peter Cottontail and sing the original song instead.
An Easter-themed board-book parody of the traditional nursery rhyme.
Unfortunately, this effort is just as sugary and uninspired as The Itsy Bitsy Snowman, offered by the same pair in 2015. A cheerful white bunny hops through a pastel world to distribute candy and treats for Easter but spills his baskets. A hedgehog, fox, mouse, and various birds come to the bunny’s rescue, retrieving the candy, helping to devise a distribution plan, and hiding the eggs. Then magically, they all fly off in a hot air balloon as the little animals in the village emerge to find the treats. Without any apparent purpose, the type changes color to highlight some words. For very young children every word is new, so highlighting “tiny tail” or “friends” makes no sense. Although the text is meant to be sung, the words don't quite fit the rhythm of the original song. Moreover, there are not clear motions to accompany the text; without the fingerplay movements, this book has none of the satisfying verve of the traditional version.
Leave the hopping to Peter Cottontail and sing the original song instead. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5621-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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