It's an odd book, but for anyone who has mice on the brain like this cat, there are more than enough cute ones in this book...
An unnamed cat experiences a metaphysical crisis.
The cat in question has mice on the brain—not just a few or even dozens, but 1 million. This is a feline whose mind can conjure up "ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR mice zooming along on a triple-decker bus" as well as a single perfect mouse, "which he would see in great detail." The cat is so focused on a goal of 1 million mice imagined that he forgoes time with other cats. But one last mouse remains elusive, driving the very purposeful kitty to distraction. When that last mouse appears to visit in actual form (it's unclear if it really happens or is imagined), cat and mouse have a wonderful day together, leaving the cat more hopeful and social. As readers might expect, the many, many mice are rendered in loving detail, and it's all very adorable. But the cat's anxiety about the limits of his imagination seems scarily joyless, and it's only after either a supernatural or coincidental visit from a biological enemy or a complete break with reality that this cat is somehow cured. Adults: this one might require more explaining and shoulder shrugging over the plot than bedtime might accommodate.
It's an odd book, but for anyone who has mice on the brain like this cat, there are more than enough cute ones in this book to satisfy .(Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-59270-213-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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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