A thank-you note from grandchildren to grandmothers.
Celebrating the mutual-admiration society of grandmothers and grandchildren.
This upbeat text has the tone of an expanded greeting card. It begins with a child writing a note to Grandma (“Do you know you’re the best?”) and then continues to show how grandmothers offer unconditional love and acceptance in myriad magical and practical ways. The text’s sentiments are clear even when the sentence structure is not: “You’re grab pots and pans, / let’s make a band, / cheer up and bake / a rainy Saturday cake….” In this illustration, a grandma frosts a cake while singing into a wooden-spoon microphone; one grandchild pretends to strum a broom while two younger kids bang pots and pans. The whole family has brown skin and puffy black hair. It’s not all boisterousness. “Take a walk so we can talk, / hold my hand and understand / that sometimes things don’t go as planned.” Here, a young child with black braids walks with a grandma (rather improbably) wearing both a hijab and a bindi; both have brown skin. Bright cartoon illustrations of racially diverse generations show grandmothers and grandchildren actively swinging through a jungle and challenging a dragon as well as quietly engaging in pep talks and enjoying a seaside visit complete with sand castle building. Blank pages invite readers to add their own thoughts and pictures about grandma.
A thank-you note from grandchildren to grandmothers. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-2261-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
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Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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