A modern fairy tale imported from China that upends the traditional portrayal of witches.
In Yun’s picture book, Wooshi the Witch seeks to create a new form of magic in the sky.
Wooshi the Witch has lived in the sky since the beginning of the world. Other witches are known to manipulate animals, plants, or emotions, but Wooshi is unique because she casts magic with clouds. Everything she builds is cloud-white until she’s inspired by the flowers on Earth to introduce color into her work. When her attempt to cultivate flowers results in a cloudburst that turns her clouds to dust, Wooshi shuts herself away for thousands of years to perfect her magic. One day, she throws her hands up in defeat and sweeps all her dust down to the ground. It’s then that she discovers that she’s had the ability to brighten up the world all along—just in a way she’s never imagined. “I chased tricky spells for thousands of years, and all I needed is the sun’s cozy embrace and the little joys that make life sparkle!” Yun’s sweet narrative maintains a tenuous connection between everyday marvels and Wooshi’s inability to grow her flower seeds, although Tuzi’s illustrations, rich with the movement of Wooshi’s dust swirling around, are enough to carry readers away into the fantastical world this unconventional witch inhabits.
A modern fairy tale imported from China that upends the traditional portrayal of witches.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781953458681
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Yeehoo Press
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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