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EASTER EGGS AND MATZO BALLS

Name: EASTER EGGS AND MATZO BALLS
Author: Janie Emaus
ISBN: 978-1-5107-6922-9

by Janie Emaus ; illustrated by Bryan Langdo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 31, 2023

Confusing but joyous—like many real-life holiday celebrations.

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Twenty-first-century families are complicated.

Michael celebrates Easter, and his stepsister, Anna, celebrates Passover, but this year, both holidays come at the same time. So Michael emails the Easter Bunny (at Easterbunny@19BurrowAve.com) for help. The Easter Bunny agrees to hide a special gift in Anna’s golden egg. The problem? None of the Passover-themed presents that Michael suggests will fit inside the egg, no matter how much the bunny squishes or squashes them—until finally they decide on the perfect gift…a piece of matzo. It’s refreshing to read a story about a stepfamily that has so little conflict. But some of the story details may puzzle readers. It’s not always obvious which character is speaking, and it would be very tricky for the bunny to place a piece of matzo inside the golden egg unless the egg were unusually large or the matzo were unusually small. The pictures don’t clear anything up, but they have a simple, childlike charm, with circles for people’s heads and wavy lines for their arms. Characters are tan-skinned. Readers may appreciate the spirit of religious harmony even if they have trouble figuring out the plot mechanics. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Confusing but joyous—like many real-life holiday celebrations. (holiday recipes, glossary of Passover and Easter terms) (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-5107-6922-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sky Pony Press

Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.

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A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.

A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: June 9, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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5 MORE SLEEPS 'TIL HALLOWEEN
by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Rich Deas

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CON POLLO
by Jimmy Fallon & Jennifer Lopez ; illustrated by Andrea Campos

- SEEN & HEARD
Jimmy Fallon Christmas Book Coming This Fall

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HAPPY EASTER FROM THE CRAYONS

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 2023

Let these crayons go back into their box.

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The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.

Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)