Delightful spring and Easter fun.
Hap-pea-ness is guaranteed for all every Easter.
This brief, beguiling book describes that wonderful time of year in lilting rhyme with bright, cheery digitally rendered illustrations. The anthropomorphic peas, whom readers will recognize from Baker’s previous titles, frolic in the (usually) glorious balmy weather, appreciate the flowers, and go for rides on minuscule bikes. “Gentle showers, blooming flowers, longer sunny daylight hours”—Baker sings the praises of a lovely spring day. In a cute nod to the main characters, the words happy and yippee appear as hap-pea and yip-pea. And, of course, brightly decorated Easter eggs are on full and gorgeous display. (Readers get a glimpse of how the tiny peas make these eggs look so appealing; helicopters, construction equipment, and huge vats of dye are involved.) Words such as spring and eggs appear on the pages in softly colored, oversize capital letters, each one displaying a different delicate pattern. Young children will hone their color-identification skills, learn new words to describe patterns (“stripes, swirls, polka dots—hap-pea patterns, lots and lots”), and practice their search-and-find skills as they’re invited to search for eggs in the artwork. At the end, kids will be as overjoyed as the peas to find someone extra special among the eggs.
Delightful spring and Easter fun. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781665940245
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
Cookie-cutter predictability.
After all the daring escapes in the How To Catch… series, will the kids be able to catch Santa?
Oddly, previous installments saw the children trying (and failing) to catch an elf and a reindeer, but both are easily captured in this story. Santa, however, is slippery. Tempted but not fooled by poinsettias, a good book (attached to a slingshot armed with a teddy bear projectile), and, of course, milk and cookies, Santa foils every plan. The hero in a red suit has a job to do. Presents must be placed, and lists must be checked. He has no time for traps and foolery (except if you’re the elf, who falls for every one of them). Luckily, Santa helps the little rascal escape each time. Little is new here—the kids resort to similar snares found in previous works: netting, lures, and technological wonders such as the Santa Catcher 5000. Although the rhythm falters quite a bit (“How did we get out you ask? / It looked like we were done for. / Santa’s magic is very real, / and I cannot reveal more”), fans of the series may not mind. Santa and Christmas just might be enough to overcome the flaws. Santa and the elf are light-skinned, one of the children is brown-skinned, and the other presents as Asian. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cookie-cutter predictability. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728274270
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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