A sweet father-daughter tale well suited for homes familiar with Tu B’Shevat.
What is the titular Abba Tree?
The flyleaf explains that Abba is the Hebrew word for father, but most kids will intuit the meaning, as little, bespectacled Hannah tries to communicate with her tall, lanky dad while he grabs a nap under his favorite carob tree. The carob has a special relation to the Jewish observance Tu B’Shevat, and Abba planted this particular tree for Hannah the year she was born. Hannah wants to climb a tree, but she knows that this carob is young and weak. She finds others nearby: first the eucalyptus, whose “trunk [is] slippery,” then the pine, whose “bark [is] rough and scratchy,” and finally, the olive, with pollen that “tickle[s] Hannah’s nose.” Not finding any of these satisfactory, she goes to wake Abba. When faced with her request, he wittily suggests: “Plant an Abba Tree.” Hannah positions her father upright with his feet as roots and his strong arms out straight, holding branches bearing an upside-down bat and a right-side-up owl. This Israeli import, translated from the Hebrew, is quietly amusing, but with no real explanation of the holiday’s meaning, it assumes a knowledgeable readership. The naïve pictures, created with a palette of simple greens, blues, and browns, have an animated cartoon look that suits the quirky story. Hannah and Abba both have dark hair and pink skin. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 25% of actual size.)
A sweet father-daughter tale well suited for homes familiar with Tu B’Shevat. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5415-3466-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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