After one reading, the party is over—pass.
A cuddly, lime-green monster gets ready for a bash.
“Come to Max’s Monster Party. There’s GOO-LICIOUS food to eat! / It’s creepy-crawly, stinky fun—don’t miss the SCARY treat!” A bright-eyed group of smiling monsters, some with rounded front teeth, one with glasses, and another with an eye patch, comes through the door bearing gifts. Presents are opened, the magician entertains, the bouncy castle “sprays out gunk,” and the monsters take part in the “stinky breath contest.” Then it is time to blow out the “earwax candles” on the “eyeball birthday cake.” Once all the festivities draw to a close, not only do the attendees get to sample the titular dragon jelly—a “scrumptious, sizzling treat”—but each monster also gets a goody bag with a small, red, fire-breathing dragon to take home as a pet. Freedman’s rhyming text matches the rollicking party action, while Hendra and Linnet choose a festive, neon pastel palette set against a black background to make the festivities truly pop. Bouncy though the book is, it’s hard to imagine that the overcrowded field of birthday books really needs another. Without a plot, this benign offering, even with the charming monsters, fails to stand out.
After one reading, the party is over—pass. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-6196-3682-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.
A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.
The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665954761
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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