Silly and witty: serve to slightly older children who are ready for a good dose of subversively hearty laughter.
A hungry lion finds something to eat, with the help of several smaller animals.
A red-maned lion poses regally with a bat, penguin, turtle, mouse, hen, frog, koala, sheep, kitten, two pigs, and two rabbits. All smile, a bit blankly. As for the lion himself, he looks calm and possibly hungry, or maybe that is just a look of sly anticipation. On the page turn, something is different. The story begins again, with the same words as at first (“Once upon a time there was a hungry lion…”), though with fewer animals. Turn the page, and “Wait a second.” Here is the hungry lion again but only four animals. Where could the others have gone? Cummins’ perfect conversation starter gets even better with multiple readings. Rich language and a playful use of typeface complement the simply outlined, goofily appealing (but not sentimental), softly colored creatures. A young listener may have an answer for the disappearance of those animals. Wonderfully, and darkly hilariously, that answer will be correct in just a few pages—but not right away. Multiple surprises, including a dance party, cake (“four-tiered…with buttercream frosting”), and a new “really ravenous” guest combine to leave only the turtle with something to eat.
Silly and witty: serve to slightly older children who are ready for a good dose of subversively hearty laughter. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4889-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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