A heartwarming holiday tale.
An illustrated children’s Christmas story about a grouchy author, a surprise visit from Santa Claus, and a lost family found.
P.T. Grumbles is a writer and critic who’s finishing up a large round of interviews with “the most famous people in the world” for publication as a book. When he’s nearly finished with the work, a young child of one of the interviewees asks him if he’s going to include an interview with Santa. Grumbles is attracted to this idea and decides that it would be a fitting conclusion for his book. Although he despises the Christmas holiday—his adoptive parents always made it a miserable experience—he decorates his house to lure Santa in on Christmas Eve and request an exclusive. The plan works: Santa agrees to talk to Grumbles but says that the writer must travel with him on his gift-giving rounds. Along the way, Grumbles asks Santa questions about how he can possibly deliver presents to all the children in the world, how his reindeer can fly, and how Santa gets into homes that lack chimneys; however, the jolly old elf’s answers are vague and mysterious. Soon, Santa asks Grumbles about his past and then enlists his help for a delivery—an event that changes the course of the writer’s life. Hunter presents a tale that’s likely to appeal to young children and may even appeal to young teens. Over the course of the narrative, the tone is warm and humorous, and the narrative style is comfortable and straightforward. The events of the story take a touching turn toward the end, and things wrap up with a satisfying conclusion and a clear moral that will be easy for young readers to understand. The characterization builds to an upbeat, family-centered ending that highlights love and friendship. Hunter’s occasional, full-color painterly illustrations depict Grumbles and Santa at key points in the narrative.
A heartwarming holiday tale.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-64161-003-2
Page Count: 51
Publisher: Finstock & Tew Publishers
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This frenetic ode to fatherhood is predictable fare but may please series fans.
It’s time to look for the elusive Daddysaurus.
In this latest installment in the seemingly never-ending series about a group of diverse kids attempting to trap mythical creatures, the youngsters are now on the lookout for a big mauve dinosaur with an emblazoned D on his stomach and a superhero cape. The fast-moving Daddysaurus is always on the go; he will be difficult to catch. Armed with blueprints of possible ideas, the kids decide which traps to set. As in previous works, ones of the sticky variety seem popular. They cover barbells with fly paper (Daddysaurus like to exercise) and spread glue on the handle of a shovel (Daddysaurus also likes to garden). One clever trick involves tempting Daddysaurus with a drawing of a hole, taped to the wall, because he fixes everything that breaks. Daddysaurus is certainly engaged in the children’s lives, not a workaholic or absent, but he does fall into some standard tropes associated with fathers. The rhyming quatrains stumble at times but for the most part bounce along. Overall, though, text and art feel somewhat formulaic and likely will tempt only devotees of the series. The final page of the book (after Daddysaurus is caught with love) has a space for readers to write a note or draw a picture of their own Daddysaurus. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
This frenetic ode to fatherhood is predictable fare but may please series fans. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-72826-618-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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