A vivid depiction of a wedding celebration that shortchanges its protagonist.
In this follow-up to Archie Celebrates Diwali (2021), a young Indian girl guides her cousin-to-be through the ins and outs of a Hindu wedding.
Archie’s Poppy Uncle is marrying Miss Julie, and Archie has so much to do: She strings garlands with Dida, folds programs with her dad, and helps her mom select jewelry. Plus, she must watch her little brother, Krishna. So when Poppy Uncle asks her to help Miss Julie’s niece, Emma, feel comfortable, Archie isn’t sure she can handle it all. Miss Julie and Emma, who present white, are unfamiliar with Hindu traditions, and they both need a lot of guidance. Archie assuages Emma’s anxiety about wearing Indian clothes, steps in at the baraat when Emma and her father look lost, and answers Emma’s questions about the Sanskrit mantras the bride and groom repeat during the ceremony. Archie also consoles Miss Julie when she thinks that she’s ruined her henna. By the end of the wedding, Emma and Archie aren’t just cousins—they’re also friends. Though the two girls forge a strong bond, the relationship feels one-sided. And while the vibrant, textured illustrations and clear text provide an excellent introduction to a Hindu wedding ceremony, Archie spends most of the book making Emma and Miss Julie feel at home; many readers will be unsettled by the optics of a child of color putting her own needs aside to prioritize a white family’s comfort.
A vivid depiction of a wedding celebration that shortchanges its protagonist. (about Indian weddings, glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781623544188
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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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