This Easter message is that friends are golden.
Perennial favorite Bad Kitty returns in search of a prize.
Bad Kitty and her friends are going on an egg hunt, but besides the usual dyed eggs, a golden egg holding “the best thing ever” is waiting to be found. Bad Kitty imagines that it will offer a host of tangible goodies, picturing catnip, fish, treats, a ball of yarn, etc. Bad Kitty’s strategy is not clever: In quest of the gold, she passes up all the colored eggs, which are of course gathered by her friends Stinky Kitty, Chatty Kitty, Big Kitty, and Puppy. Soon those eggs are all gone, and the “golden” one she finally pounces on turns out to be the curved back of Puppy—in whose mouth she now sees the golden goal. Surprisingly, her friends are not eating candy from their eggs. When opened, each contains a friend-related challenge, like “write a story about your friend,” or “give a present to your friend.” It’s Puppy who gets that one and who, in response, gives Bad Kitty the golden egg. It turns out to have a special message inside from all her friends. Large, serif type will help developing readers. The illustrations are in the established goofy Bad Kitty cartoon style, with exaggerated facial expressions and frenetic, easy-to-read body language supporting the simple text. Easter means colored eggs only here: no mention of religion.
This Easter message is that friends are golden. (suggested friend challenges for Easter eggs) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Dec. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9781250884770
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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