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FIRST SNOW

A sweet suburban/rural contrast to the snowy day enjoyed by Peter in the city.

A brother and sister venture outside on a snowy day for some playtime with the neighborhood children.

“Perky faces. / Scrambling feet. // Snowflakes falling! / What a treat!” With nary an adult to be seen, the relationship between the older brother and his little sister takes on a nurturing feel as he helps her with her mittens and, once back inside, shares hot chocolate and a book. Outside, though, the group of neighborhood kids intermixes in their various activities. The boys and girls have a snowball fight, make snow angels, play in an igloo, and sled. They are a diverse bunch: three white children, a child with East Asian features, a child with beige skin, the brown-skinned sibling pair, and their brown-and-white floppy-eared hound. Short sentences and spot-on rhythms give the outdoor adventure a bouncy excitement; toward the end, these same characteristics combine with somnolent words and phrases to calm readers in readiness for sleep: “Creamy chocolate—warm, not cold. // Peaceful twilight. Stories told.” Shipman’s illustrations feature the children’s bright snow gear against a light blue and white snowy backdrop, the outdoor scenes wonderfully speckled with the still-falling snow.

A sweet suburban/rural contrast to the snowy day enjoyed by Peter in the city. (Picture book. 2-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-8075-2440-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Whitman

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S CHRISTMAS

Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...

The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.

The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.

Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)

Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3

Page Count: 24

Publisher: HMH Books

Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014

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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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