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
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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