The mix of fairy tales is fun, but though things work out for the three friends in the end, Lolly may seem too vengeful for...
B. Bear and Lolly are back in a tale about owning up to mistakes…and maybe about anger and vengeance too (B. Bear and Lolly: Off to School, 2014).
The “Goldilocks” best friends have a vexing new invention—the porridge their Porridge Perfecter turns out is never quite right. But before they can try again, “BAM!” The Gingerbread Man runs through and destroys the machine, not even stopping to say sorry or help clean up. B. Bear is upset and sad, and Lolly is angry: “Let’s go get him!” But though the two try, readers familiar with the Gingerbread Man’s story will know that he can’t be caught, and his taunting only makes Lolly angrier. “I just want to crumble that cookie!” she yells. Readers might run from Lolly’s expression, too. After a chase scene populated by characters from many fairy tales, the imperfect porridge provides the answer. The Gingerbread Man trembles before the triumphant friends but is immediately contrite, and with his help, not only is the invention fixed, but it actually makes porridge that is “just right.” Chou’s bright illustrations are full of nifty details, though the flatness of the digital artwork can sometimes make them difficult to pick out.
The mix of fairy tales is fun, but though things work out for the three friends in the end, Lolly may seem too vengeful for many readers, adult or child. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-219791-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
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Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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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BOOK REVIEW
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