The heavy-handed lesson and underdeveloped characters hinder this picture book’s attempt to convey a positive message.
Wolf—the star of several picture books originally published in France—has many forest friends, but his inability to regulate his emotions interferes with his relationships.
Wolf’s friends decide to instruct him in various self-management techniques, hoping he’ll learn self-control. His first lesson is yoga, which he finds to be quite funny. Next he tries both exercise and baking. When his female love interest (the unfortunately named Wolfette) makes a good-natured joke at his expense, he explodes in anger and calls his friends hurtful names. Later, when building a house, Wolf makes a mistake and is on the verge of a meltdown. He remembers his initial yoga class and uses the techniques he learned to calm down. After this one instance of successful self-management, Wolf’s friends celebrate and praise his transformation. The emotions Wolf experiences on his journey, such as fear, pride, jealousy, and shame, are noted in boldface text. The emphasis on naming feelings and the acknowledgement that different self-management techniques can be effective for different personalities are highlights. Unfortunately, the overall story is clunky. While this title would serve as a good tool for an explicit social-emotional–learning lesson, as a general read, the overall effect is lackluster at best.
The heavy-handed lesson and underdeveloped characters hinder this picture book’s attempt to convey a positive message. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-2-7338-6147-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Auzou Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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