Teamwork and being true to oneself are always celebrated, but Andrews, Hamilton, and Davenier combine talents to produce a...
Gerry shines again in the latest entry in the Very Fairy Princess series.
Halloween is near, and the perennial dilemma of what to wear is especially tricky for Gerry. She must find a costume that works with her wings and crown, after all. Even though she has “a THOUSAND ideas… / …nothing seems quite right.” Daddy suggests the obvious, Mommy offers encouragement, while brother Stewart cracks a joke. But “fairy princesses always come through in a pinch,” and Gerry decides to be an angel. Excited to get to school, Gerry meets up with her best friend, Delilah, who has come as a dentist because that is “what she wants to be when she grows up.” All goes well until rambunctious Connor has a ketchup mishap at lunch. Suddenly Delilah’s costume is ruined, and furthermore, the apparent spatter of blood “sends TOTALLY the wrong message about dentists!” Gerry applies fairy magic and comes up with a creative solution just in time for the Halloween parade. She makes a sacrifice for her friend and in turn inspires Delilah to be innovative. It’s hard not to warm to the irrepressible Gerry, even in her seventh picture-book outing.
Teamwork and being true to oneself are always celebrated, but Andrews, Hamilton, and Davenier combine talents to produce a charming tale full of girl power that readers can applaud. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-316-28304-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
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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