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A YEAR FULL OF HOLIDAYS

Name: A YEAR FULL OF HOLIDAYS
Author: Susan Middleton Elya
ISBN: 978-0-399-23733-1

by Susan Middleton Elya & illustrated by Diana Cain Bluthenthal ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2010

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Young children who are always looking forward to the next holiday (and the adults they pester) will appreciate this one, as long as they are white Americans of the basically Judeo-Christian variety. To bouncy rhyming verse, readers follow five-year-old Nell from her birthday in August (since August lacks a holiday), through each month’s holidays and back again: Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day and the Fourth of July. Both the verses and Bluthenthal’s colorful illustrations reflect a return to the Leave-It-to-Beaver idea of families—a Caucasian Christian family with a Mom, Dad and one child, with celebrations that include extended family and friends. They also represent the traditional activities that go with each holiday—a barbecue for Labor Day, dyeing eggs for Easter and a parade on the Fourth of July. Preschool and kindergarten teachers will find this a tool of limited utility, as they will have to look elsewhere for holidays outside the Christian tradition and for alternative-family arrangements. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: May 1, 2010

ISBN: 978-0-399-23733-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: Dec. 30, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

- BOOK REVIEW
THE THREE BILLY GOATS BUENOS
by Susan Middleton Elya ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez

- BOOK REVIEW
MAYA PAPAYA AND HER AMIGOS PLAY DRESS-UP
by Susan Middleton Elya ; illustrated by Maria Mola

- BOOK REVIEW
OUR CELEBRACIÓN!
by Susan Middleton Elya ; illustrated by Ana Aranda

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TEN LITTLE FISH

by Audrey Wood & illustrated by Bruce Wood ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2004

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This charming, colorful counting tale of ten little fish runs full-circle. Although the light verse opens and closes with ten fish swimming in a line, page-by-page the line grows shorter as the number of fish diminishes one-by-one. One fish dives down, one gets lost, one hides, and another takes a nap until a single fish remains. Then along comes another fish to form a couple and suddenly a new family of little fish emerges to begin all over. Slick, digitally-created images of brilliant marine flora and fauna give an illusion of underwater depth and silence enhancing the verse’s numerical and theatrical progression. The holistic story bubbles with life’s endless cycle. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-439-63569-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FULL MOON AT THE NAPPING HOUSE
by Audrey Wood ; illustrated by Don Wood

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BIRTHDAY QUEEN
by Audrey Wood ; illustrated by Don Wood

- BOOK REVIEW
IT'S DUFFY TIME!
by Audrey Wood & illustrated by Don Wood

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HAPPY EASTER FROM THE CRAYONS

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 2023

Let these crayons go back into their box.

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The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.

Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)