A “merry,” pleasant, and uplifting seasonal offering.
A bird’s extraordinary holiday escapade, inspired by the real-life owl discovered in the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in 2020.
Merry, a northern saw-whet owl, has a favorite tree in the conifer forest: Hark, a Norway spruce. Merry stays warm in a hole in Hark’s trunk and listens to the tree’s stories. Merry also loves listening to Sebastian, a great gray owl, tell thrilling owl myths and longs to experience grand adventures, too. But when Hark is felled, lifted "onto a large, red shiny beast," and taken to a "new world" of "giant structures," Merry's whole world is uprooted. Alone in the big city, Merry has trouble hunting, but a kind brown-skinned woman takes Merry home and expertly cares for the owl; from the window, Merry watches Hark become more beautiful as her branches are decorated with colored lights. When Merry’s health is restored, the woman releases the owl back to the forest, and Merry realizes, “I had a grand adventure.” This gentle tale, narrated by Merry in first “person,” is a quiet, contemplative take on the usual holiday fare. The sweet illustrations, presenting wintry scenes and featuring some dramatic spreads, are mostly muted, with a palette composed largely of blue-grays, browns, ivory, black, and splashes of bright colors. Diminutive, saucer-eyed Merry is endearing and takes center stage throughout. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A “merry,” pleasant, and uplifting seasonal offering. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781643752389
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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