bookshelf

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.

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

CHICKA CHICKA HO HO HO

From the Chicka Chicka Book series

by William Boniface ; illustrated by Julien Chung ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2024

A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.

bookshelf

A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.

The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.

A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024

ISBN: 9781665954761

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

bookshelf

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.

bookshelf

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)