Marvelously exemplifies the diversity of American holiday traditions and offers a more nuanced understanding of Thanksgiving.
This table has room for everyone.
Keenly aware that Thanksgiving is often associated with inaccurate portrayals of Indigenous peoples, Hulse and Goodnight (Chickasaw Nation) have created a loving, inclusive depiction of the holiday. Spare yet lyrical verse invites readers to take a seat at a table alongside a diverse group of characters who eat, ponder, and express gratitude for all they’ve been given. Hulse employs sensory-rich imagery to describe the autumnal season (“a fresh tablecloth, / crisp and gold like this day”), the various mouthwatering foods, and those who work tirelessly at planting and harvesting to make the Thanksgiving meal possible. The repeated phrase “At our table there is room” allows readers to linger on small details that make the holiday special (“swapping stories, / second helpings, and favorite jokes”). Hulse and Goodnight also emphasize respect and honor for Indigenous peoples. In one illustration, a group of people reverently stand before a statue of beloved Wampanoag chief Ousamequin, while Hulse speaks of the importance of making “room to learn from / the first farmers / and builders / and knowledge-gatherers.” Goodnight’s visuals turn solemn and stately here, though in general her images brim with warmth, suffused with an inner glow. Hope and thankfulness resonate throughout as loved ones eat, laugh, share stories, and create lasting memories.
Marvelously exemplifies the diversity of American holiday traditions and offers a more nuanced understanding of Thanksgiving. (author’s and illustrator’s notes) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9780316537056
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 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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