Pip’s parting thought is a lesson for all: “Pip wondered what else someone as small as a mouse might know.” It’s...
When an owl stops to consider the words of a mouse, it changes his point of view and improves his swooping skills.
Beware food that talks back! When Pip tries to swoop toward the base of the oak to scoop up a mouse for Rufus’ mush breakfast, he falls on Theodore the mouse instead. “That was more falling than swooping,” the rodent points out. It’s the beginning of a rather lengthy (for one that occurs between someone who is supposed to be catching dinner and someone who is meant to be dinner) conversation (and perhaps friendship). Theodore has given flying a lot of thought, and he shows Pip where he should practice his swooping—above the tallest trees where it’s windiest. Pip flies off with Theodore in his talons to test the hypothesis. Pip’s swooping—and Theodore’s ride—is glorious, the illustrations showing the two above gorgeous sunset scenery. At the end of the flight, though, Rufus’ hooting brings the two back to reality and the problem at hand. Luckily, Theodore has a solution to that as well. Cazet’s pictures have an old-fashioned aesthetic, but there is a somewhat jarring clash between the fairly realistic backgrounds and the cartoon characters. (Theodore’s front stoop, a tidy arched doorway at the base of an old oak tree, is darling, though.)
Pip’s parting thought is a lesson for all: “Pip wondered what else someone as small as a mouse might know.” It’s delightfully elastic, too, for readers encouraged to think beyond the animal kingdom. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-17648-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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