While the cat’s adventures ultimately prove a bit ho-hum, the art and the cat’s joie de vivre are enticing.
Join a city cat on a vibrant nocturnal adventure.
While “lap cats are lazy cats, / who only sleep on hallway mats,” this “city kitty” would rather make a little noise out on the town! Told in catchy couplets, the poem catalogs the cat’s nighttime excursion through the urban environment, whether it’s meeting other feline friends to “catercall upon the wall” or starting a rollicking prowl for owls and pigeons. But while the cat narrator may be exuberant about its feline-centric exploits, human readers might be less enamored of what is essentially a rhyming list of generic, cat-related activities. Though the cat proclaims it a “night to sing about,” there is no grand adventure centering the narrative, and the unceremonious arrival of morning, announced when people start to “put the garbage out,” makes the cat’s night out—and the whole story—feel like a bit of a letdown. With wild, round goldenrod-colored eyes, a sleek striped body, and bottlebrush tail, the partying kitty gleams against the deep-black night sky and bustling cityscapes. Flat colors reminiscent of Ezra Jack Keats’ palette allow the lit windows and cat silhouettes to shine, and the large-headed, sly-looking cats that move fluidly across the pages are perfectly matched to the playful rhythm.
While the cat’s adventures ultimately prove a bit ho-hum, the art and the cat’s joie de vivre are enticing. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-912757-14-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boxer Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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 sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends.
Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both!
Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. “Duck said, loud as he could quack it, / ‘THUNDER’S JUST A NOISY RACKET!’ ” In the quiet after the storm, the barnyard friends are sleepy, but the garage is not their home. “ ‘Beep!’ said Blue. ‘Just hop inside. / All aboard for the bedtime ride!’ ” Young readers will settle down for their own bedtimes as Blue and Toad drop each friend at home and bid them a good night before returning to the garage and their own beds. “Blue gave one small sleepy ‘Beep.’ / Then Little Blue Truck fell fast asleep.” Joseph’s rich nighttime-blue illustrations (done “in the style of [series co-creator] Jill McElmurry”) highlight the power of the storm and capture the still serenity that follows. Little Blue Truck has been chugging along since 2008, but there seems to be plenty of gas left in the tank.
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-85213-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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