An engaging animal-rescue tale, smoothly told and pleasingly illustrated.
A wildlife rehabilitator rescues eggs laid under a coal conveyor belt at a power plant, hatches them, and raises great horned owls to be public ambassadors for their species.
Houts pens a graceful, straightforward account of the rescue of a pair of eggs, carried to safety in Walter Crawford’s shirt pocket. One hatches. “And that’s the way it goes, sometimes,” he says. The survivor is named Coal for his origins and raised by bird sanctuary caregivers to help others learn about owls. Surprisingly, a year or two later, yet another egg appears under the conveyor belt in the power plant. Similarly rescued and hatched, Junior also becomes an owl ambassador. Softly realistic watercolor-and-pastel illustrations accompany the story, accentuating the mystery of the owl’s visits to the coal yard in the night as well as depicting Walter Crawford’s attentive care in the sanctuary. One spread features the owl showing off for a diverse group of schoolchildren sitting at the knee of the trainer, a woman of color. Crawford himself presents white. An author’s note explains the genesis of the story in the history of the World Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis, Missouri, and the details she had to fill in, including Crawford’s dialogue. That fictional memorable line helpfully reminds readers and listeners of the chanciness of such rescues and, appearing twice, nicely ties the narrative together.
An engaging animal-rescue tale, smoothly told and pleasingly illustrated. (explore more, activities) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-58469-647-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dawn Publications
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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
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