Don’t expect the newest readers to sit still for this one. They’ll want to jump right into reading.
One powerful verb, simply repeated, makes for an action-packed beginning reader.
The same winsome lad readers met in Bad Dog (2014) returns in another, even easier reader. The verb phrase “can jump” appears on every spread, while the subject—who is doing the jumping—changes. The repetitive text in a clear san serif type is always set on the left-hand side of each double-page spread, ensuring that new readers know exactly where to focus. McPhail’s pen-and-ink drawings tinted with watercolor against white backgrounds provide context clues. The blond, pale-skinned boy is quickly joined by a slightly darker-skinned girl with dark brown hair in an Afro. Familiar animals that jump are introduced first: a bug, a frog, a rabbit. The choice of animals grows increasingly fanciful: a kangaroo (with the two children riding in its pouch), a cow (jumping over the moon, of course), and a hippo. The next-to-last spread reprises all the jumpers and offers the straightforward text “We can jump.” The final spread, “You can jump,” shows the two children and the sneaker-clad feet of a third child jumping off the top corner of the page. The same pastoral and wordless farm scene opens and closes the book.
Don’t expect the newest readers to sit still for this one. They’ll want to jump right into reading. (Early reader. 4-8)Pub Date: July 17, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3889-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
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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