It’s a likable-enough tale that never quite transforms into something magical
Poor Albert seems doomed to dullness until his fairy-godmother–like grandmother shows up to give him the “chocolate-cherry-ripple” birthday of his dreams.
Albert’s stick-in-the-mud parents don’t do noise or mess. But Albert longs for something more than “extremely ordinary,” and with fellow explorer Grandma Z, adventures ensue, both mystical (bird-watching while soaring through the sky) and mundane (a wild roller-coaster ride) until Albert arrives home changed. The illustrations open on Albert’s dreary, black-and-white, composed home. Grandma brings touches of blue and glaring orange into the tight gray pencil drawings, the pages becoming riotously colorful and the drawings looser and gauzier. Albert metamorphoses too, from somber boy in black-tie to a cheery, sketchily lined, Quentin Blake–esque child, all with help from some not-so-subtle butterfly imagery. Ultimately, though, the story feels flat. The magic is too subtle and doesn’t always feel like wish fulfillment—readers glimpse the sleeping dragon under the “curiosity shop” but Albert settles for merely touching a tooth. Some jaunts, such as foraging for “Dead Man’s Bells” or “teaching Icelandic horses how to can-can” are weirdly esoteric. Albert never leads but passively follows the enigmatic Grandma Z, making the constant reassurances that he “never felt ordinary again” feel strangely hollow. There’s no hint that Albert will seize his destiny and lead his own exploits; he’s left waiting for Grandma’s next visit.
It’s a likable-enough tale that never quite transforms into something magical . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0118-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators.
Existing artwork from an artistic giant inspires a fairy-tale reimagination by a master of the horror genre.
In King’s interpretation of a classic Brothers Grimm story, which accompanies set and costume designs that the late Sendak created for a 1997 production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, siblings Hansel and Gretel survive abandonment in the woods and an evil witch’s plot to gobble them up before finding their “happily ever after” alongside their father. Prose with the reassuring cadence of an old-timey tale, paired with Sendak’s instantly recognizable artwork, will lull readers before capitalizing on these creators’ knack for injecting darkness into seemingly safe spaces. Gaping faces loom in crevices of rocks and trees, and a gloomy palette of muted greens and ocher amplify the story’s foreboding tone, while King never sugarcoats the peach-skinned children’s peril. Branches with “clutching fingers” hide “the awful enchanted house” of a “child-stealing witch,” all portrayed in an eclectic mix of spot and full-bleed images. Featuring insults that might strike some as harsh (“idiot,” “fool”), the lengthy, dense text may try young readers’ patience, and the often overwhelmingly ominous mood feels more pitched to adults—particularly those familiar with King and Sendak—but an introduction acknowledges grandparents as a likely audience, and nostalgia may prompt leniency over an occasional disconnect between words and art.
Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9780062644695
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
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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