A sweet, upbeat way to get kids jazzed for Christmas.
Christmas is a time for joyful, musical celebration.
This charming homage to Christmas-preparation merriment is expressed through simple, four-line verses as various animal families, friends, and neighbors are depicted gaily getting ready for the holiday. Each verse seamlessly incorporates a boldfaced, italicized word or phrase drawn from the lyrics of one of 14 well-known Christmas songs, including “Deck the Halls” and “Joy to the World.” These songs are listed in the back of the book, and readers may access the full lyrics to all the carols via QR codes. But while readers are encouraged to match the lyric snippets from the verses to the songs from which they’re derived, there’s actually no way for them to do so if they’re unfamiliar with all or some of the actual carols, as no printed hints are offered in the body of the text. Still, the book is a lively, cheery exploration of the Christmas spirit, radiating from very colorful digital illustrations that portray a variety of animal species enjoying warm, cozy times with family and friends, decorating homes and trees, enlivening cold winters with yummy repasts and toasty clothing, and honoring inclusivity. Note these lovely lines, apt for all times and all seasons: “Joy to the World!The time has come/to celebrate each other, / no matter where you’re from.”
A sweet, upbeat way to get kids jazzed for Christmas. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728265872
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2023
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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
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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