A one-note ride into an enjoyable Chinese lunar-calendar tradition, this trots instead of gallops.
The ninth installment from the Tales from the Chinese Zodiac picture-book series offers readers a look into the characteristics of being born in the Year of the Horse.
Hannah, a bright-eyed foal, and her human friend Tom wonder what they’ll be when they grow up. Equine family and friends tell what they do for a living: Papa is a racehorse and Mama a show horse, and Uncle Fu pulls large loads. Hannah’s abilities are tested when Tom’s art teacher, Lao Shi, asks Tom to take her commissioned painting to the governor at the capital, a long journey away. Tom needs a partner, and after he interviews other animals (all from the Chinese zodiac) for the job, Hannah announces she can do it. According to the author’s note, people born in horse years are energetic and animated but also impatient or headstrong. Enlivened with Wood’s peppy, commercial-looking illustrations, the story feels most energetic when the twosome learn to work together as one, as they encounter hazards (other zodiac animals) during their journey. But there is a missed opportunity. The tale overloads on only favorable horse personality traits, leading to a predictable outcome. Chin (The Year of the Snake, 2013, etc.) overlooks flaws, like impatience, which robs Hannah of the chance to overcome and rise above them.
A one-note ride into an enjoyable Chinese lunar-calendar tradition, this trots instead of gallops. (list of zodiac animals) (Fiction. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-59702-080-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Immedium
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2013
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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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