Joyful, interactive holiday fun.
An inspired twist lets everyone participate in a Passover tradition.
A delightful part of any seder is when the children in attendance scour the house in search of the afikoman, a hidden piece of unleavened bread. This tale allows readers to experience the fun for themselves—without even eating any horseradish. The scene is set as a diverse group crowds around the seder table, including a sneaky anthropomorphized afikoman with a face and stick arms and legs, clearly about to dash off. A chair has been saved for Elijah, complete with a note and a Haggadah on the seat. With a cheeky grin, the afikoman makes an appearance on the title page and leads readers on a merry chase throughout the book. As a group of young cousins searches each room of the house, Gardyn Levington’s bouncy verse propels the plot forward. With rhythm and repetition, this book has the makings of a storytime hit. Kelner rivals Where’s Waldo? illustrator Martin Handford in her ability to find unusual hiding places on purposefully busy and imaginatively designed spreads. The artwork is charming, allowing sharp-eyed readers to outwit the book’s characters and locate the afikoman on every page. Though a glossary defines terms such as seder and matzah, those seeking more detailed explanations of Passover may want to supplement this title with other resources.
Joyful, interactive holiday fun. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593617786
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Rocky Pond Books/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property.
Since a reformed Grinch is hardly any fun, this follow-up Grinches him up once more.
Those seeking more of the same, prepare to receive precisely that. Christmas is coming (again!), and the Grinch can hardly wait. He’s been patient all year, and now he can finally show the Whos down in Who-ville how much he’s changed. When the Grinch learns of a tree-decorating contest, he figures that if he wins, it’ll prove he truly has the Christmas spirit. He throws himself into the task, but when it comes time to judge the trees, the Grinch is horrified to discover that he’s received only the second-place trophy. Can Cindy-Lou Who find the words to save the day? Replicating many of the original beats and wordplay of the original, this tale feels like less a sequel and more like a vaguely rewritten variation. Meanwhile, Ruiz’s art seeks to bridge the gap between the animated Chuck Jones version of the Grinch and the one depicted in the original book. This thankless task results in a strange uncanny valley between Seuss and Jones but does allow the artist a chance to colorize everything and lend some racial diversity to the Who population (Cindy-Lou is light-skinned). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780593563168
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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