Visually, one of Crews' snazziest creations—and pretty terrific at capturing the many moods and shadings of a parade too. The book begins in the gray dawn with a sanitation truck sweeping the street; food and souvenir vendors get ready; knots of people gather; we see "A crowd. Waiting"—faceless, but each differentiated. (The two lines of watchers, on either side of the street, have the abstract crackle-and-pop of Crews' first picture books.) Then: "Here it comes!" The color guard (a sea of national flags—for the observant to recognize) and, for three openings, the marching band ("clarinets, saxophones, cornets, trumpets, flutes, French horns, sousaphones, field drums, cymbals, and last the big bass drums"). Next: floats—comical ballyhoo floats; "Bicycles from bygone days, and antique automobiles." "And at the end of the parade"—with confetti flying—"the brand-new fire engine." Then the crowds disperse. "Nothing left to see, nothing left to do except. . . clean up." With less martial spirit than high-stepping, holiday hijinks—a parade to please even the dyspeptic.
Pub Date: April 18, 1983
ISBN: 0688065201
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1983
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another Seuss-chimera joins the ranks of the unforgettable Herlar and with the advent of the Grinch— a sort of Yule Ghoul who lives in a cave just north of who-ville. While all the Who's made ready on Christmas Eve the Grinch donned a Santa-Claus disguise. In gurgling verse at a galloping gait, we learn how the Grinch stole the "presents, the ribbons, the wrappings, the tags, the tinsel and trappings," from all the Who's. But the Grinch's heart (two sizes too small) melted just in time when he realized that the Who's enjoyed Christmas without any externals. Youngsters will be in transports over the goofy gaiety of Dr. Seuss's first book about a villain — easily the best Christmas-cad since Scrooge. Inimitable Seuss illustrations of the Grinch's dog Max disguised as a reindeer are in black and white with touches of red. Irrepressible and irresistible.
Pub Date: Oct. 12, 1957
ISBN: 0394800796
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1957
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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