A book to hug close and then share with a friend.
A slow-jam of a meta–picture book leads up to a best thing, indeed.
Frontmatter shows the eponymous Mervin standing on the recto as the title slowly descends in large type from the top of the double-page spread. Eventually a red panda enters on the verso and notices the textual announcement, which remains, dominating the background. “Whooooa…” it says. Other animals join the scene, each one noticing the words and eventually suggesting what the “best thing” might be. Being a sloth, Mervin is in no hurry to respond or to act, and the bird, gazelle, skunk, llama, and other creatures crowding the spread weigh in with humorous ideas delivered in speech-balloon text. The crowding of the spreads makes the animals’ eventual departure all the more dramatic, and when all but the red panda and Mervin leave the scene, new text descends above the red panda on the verso and Mervin, his arms outstretched, on the recto. It reads: “Hug his best friend.” The penultimate spread shows the embracing friends united on the verso with just the words “best friend” on the facing page, and then everyone returns to gaze adoringly at the pair at book’s end. Chan’s appealing, cartoon-style watercolor illustrations enhance the humor of the text throughout the picture book and employ a distinct, memorable style.
A book to hug close and then share with a friend. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-233847-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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