Encourages children to feel brave, to try, and to believe they can soar.
Mel knows it’s her day to fly.
A stout kingfisher fledgling marches to the end of her branch, jumps, flips, spreads her wings—and falls. Down she goes, beak-first, eyes shut, smiling broadly. This lovely book’s vertical format prompts readers to look longitudinally at each spread, up and down the trunk of a tall tree, following Mel’s descent. The unusual orientation, coupled with the gripping idea of first flight (or fall!), inspires both excitement and anxiety. Muted pastel illustrations set against ample, bleached-out white space convey craggy bark, Mel’s soft blue and russet feathers, and clusters of oval celadon leaves. Mel plummets, and animals (squirrels, bees, ants—even a spider and a realllllly slow-moving snail) scramble to help, adding humor. She crashes (into water!), and readers hold their breath, turning the book to follow her new trajectory. When Mel turns and shoots out of the water holding a fish in her beak, past her animal friends on the tree trunk, they will cheer. A note on kingfishers appears in the backmatter above a delightful picture of Mel nudging one of her siblings toward the end of the branch. Young people, who find themselves on the precipice of new activities, routines, schools, and challenges so frequently, will savor this little kingfisher’s success and perhaps feel they can right themselves the next time they fall into a downward spiral.
Encourages children to feel brave, to try, and to believe they can soar. (Picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-287801-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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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