A barking good time will be had by all.
Who doesn’t love a good “furry tail”?
This book opens as expected: Cinderella sweeps the fireplace and bemoans her sad, lonely, boring existence. Then her wish for a fairy godmother is fulfilled in the form of a fairy dogmother, who’s crestfallen when Cinderella explains whom she actually wanted. However, Cinderella, an empathetic dog lover, decides to give this a go. Alas, a misunderstanding occurs when Cinderella asks about preparing for the “ball.” The Fairy Dogmother interprets the word differently at first, envisioning a frolicsome game of fetch. However, she’s got magic up her sleeve and whips up a nifty outfit, footwear, and hairstyle for Cinderella, albeit with a canine aspect. Other “Cinderella” details get “doggified,” and the ball ends up being a howl in more ways than one. Spoiler alert: There’s a twist on the glass-slipper-leading-to-marriage ending. Not to worry. This one’s much better—and involves squirrels. This rollicking story will arouse plenty of giggles as young readers enumerate the ways in which it veers from the original. Adults can encourage little ones to think of how “Cinderella” might work with other animals subbing in for the fairy godmother. The imaginative, colorful digital illustrations burst with energy and expressiveness. Cinderella is light-skinned. The royal family hosting the ball is brown-skinned, and background characters are racially diverse; the brown, floppy-eared, tutu-wearing dogmother is adorably memorable. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A barking good time will be had by all. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-984813-82-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
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
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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