A simple, bright, if sentimental, tale of a new friendship and fresh beginnings.
In this picture book, a child considers befriending different animals before meeting the boy next door.
“I’d like to have a little gnat / but dad says gnats are tiny. / I couldn’t pat a teeny gnat / and some of them are whiny,” the tan-skinned narrator explains. This initiates a rhyming series of adjudications on members of the animal kingdom who might be his friend, but are unsatisfying for some reason. It’s too hot where he lives for polar bears, and his house is too small for elephants—which introduces the revelation that the protagonist has just moved and is lonely. Day’s digital paintings in textured brush strokes illuminate Howell’s story, though the level of creativity varies. The reasons for the animals’ dismissals are a bit dubious, and the rhymes are cutesy—a porcupine won’t do because “if I’m spiked from his dislike / I might get very sickly.” Still, the child enjoys meditating on their traits—until he meets Florenzo, a neighbor boy with dark skin who likes exploring. The boys search for pirates in the park and imagine a bird egg will hatch a dinosaur. Once another kid appears, friendship is straightforward—character development is not this story’s aim. “Imagination is a friend. / It strums a happy song” concludes the sugary verse, a little discordantly. But children looking to make friends after a life change will be heartened and comforted by the potential for finding pals in unfamiliar places.
A simple, bright, if sentimental, tale of a new friendship and fresh beginnings.Pub Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-956357-29-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lawley Enterprises LLC
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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