A tender tale of love and traditions.
A young boy and his mom prepare to celebrate the harvest holiday of Sukkot.
“Do you know why we sit in the sukkah?” a mother asks her child. The boy states simply, “To remind us we are part of the Jewish people.” The mom and the boy, clutching his toy lion, head across the autumn-hued backyard to the tented sukkah, which has an open roof of woven branches and a string of overhead lights. As they hang decorations and fruit among the lights and settle in, the boy is full of questions. Can we turn on the lights? Can we read my bedtime story here? Of course they can, but Mom is reluctant to grant his request to sleep in the sukkah, offering several reasons against it. This wise child has answers for all her doubts, expressed in lovely, metaphorical language, including the charming title phrase, sure to appeal to little ones. Snuggles, giggles, and the promised story ensue, but the rain comes, causing tears and fears. Mom whispers of how the sukkah will protect them as it did the ancient Jews wandering in the desert. They recite the evening prayer together, the Sh’ma, and all is peaceful. Halpern mixes simple, descriptive syntax with striking imagery, providing young readers with a clear understanding of the characters’ loving relationship and their Jewish identity. Fedele presents the characters in large-scale close-ups with lush landscapes surrounding them and incorporates details not in the text that enlarge and enhance the tale. Both the mother and the boy are light-skinned and dark-haired. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A tender tale of love and traditions. (about Sukkot) (Picture book/religion. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72843-904-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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