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ONE CHRISTMAS WISH

From the Little Hedgehog series

A weak holiday entry for Butler and Macnaughton’s prickly pal.

Little Hedgehog and his friends return to realize the Christmas wish of a couple of baby mice.

The friends are all at Little Hedgehog’s enjoying some pre-Christmas cheer when the mice observe falling snow through the window. Their hopes of making snow mice on a white Christmas are dashed, however, when it melts the next day. Little Hedgehog points out that there is still a little bit of snow, and they decide to find what they can and carry it home in Little Hedgehog’s stocking cap, rendered in red flocking on every page to add a tactile element to the reading. They pack the hat full, but on their way home the baby mice give some to Grandpa Squirrel to decorate his tree and some to the Beavers for a snowball fight. The remainder—along with the hat—is put to use as a cold compress when Fox sprains an ankle. The ending is as predictable as it is sentimental: The baby mice are praised for their selflessness, and Little Hedgehog works hard to make Christmas “magical” for the baby mice with sparkly decorations. (The snow-mice ambition is elided.) Macnaughton’s outdoor scenes feature bare branches and snowy mountains in the background, but the spring-green grass looks distinctly unseasonal, and the pattern of snowmelt will strike many as unrealistic.

A weak holiday entry for Butler and Macnaughton’s prickly pal. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-68010-212-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tiger Tales

Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020

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CHICKA CHICKA HO HO HO

From the Chicka Chicka Book series

A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.

A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.

The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.

A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024

ISBN: 9781665954761

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.

A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.

A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: June 9, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015

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