Be generous this holiday season: Display this delightful book widely at Christmastime.
A whimsical version of a classic Christmas song.
Brown-skinned Eloise, an Edwardian-era girl wearing a red hair bow and a dress with a white collar, receives very unusual presents from Grandma, mailed to her daily over the course of 12 days. Initially, the text hews closely to the lyrics of the time-honored song, except that instead of “my true love” doing the sending, “my grandma” is the benefactor. It’s a sure bet that readers familiar with that ditty will sing the words instead of reading them, because they’re fun to croon and the presents are so over-the-top. They get even quirkier in this clever U.K. import: After the sixth day, the gifts begin to differ sharply from those in the original as Grandma sends Eloise “seven squirrels a-snorkelling,” “eight bears a-balancing,” and more very odd items, until the last day, when something unexpected arrives in a large, striped carton. (Hint: No animals are involved this time!) Readers will hoot with pleasure, just as Eloise does. (She appreciates this gift, which is much more practical than the others.) The colorful illustrations are comically energetic, enhanced by the inclusion of Edwardian-esque stamps and postage marks in the corner of almost every right-hand page, signifying the cities and companies from which the presents came. Eloise’s thank-you note to Grandma appears on the final page, as does brown-skinned Grandma.
Be generous this holiday season: Display this delightful book widely at Christmastime. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781035051984
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Cookie-cutter predictability.
After all the daring escapes in the How To Catch… series, will the kids be able to catch Santa?
Oddly, previous installments saw the children trying (and failing) to catch an elf and a reindeer, but both are easily captured in this story. Santa, however, is slippery. Tempted but not fooled by poinsettias, a good book (attached to a slingshot armed with a teddy bear projectile), and, of course, milk and cookies, Santa foils every plan. The hero in a red suit has a job to do. Presents must be placed, and lists must be checked. He has no time for traps and foolery (except if you’re the elf, who falls for every one of them). Luckily, Santa helps the little rascal escape each time. Little is new here—the kids resort to similar snares found in previous works: netting, lures, and technological wonders such as the Santa Catcher 5000. Although the rhythm falters quite a bit (“How did we get out you ask? / It looked like we were done for. / Santa’s magic is very real, / and I cannot reveal more”), fans of the series may not mind. Santa and Christmas just might be enough to overcome the flaws. Santa and the elf are light-skinned, one of the children is brown-skinned, and the other presents as Asian. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cookie-cutter predictability. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728274270
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A forgettable effort that fails to capture any of the magical charm of Santa’s story. (Picture book. 3-6)
Wallace and Elkerton continue their series about catching elusive mythical creatures (How to Catch a Leprechaun, 2016, etc.) with this Christmas story about an elf who must avoid traps constructed by children before Santa’s annual visit.
The unnamed elf narrator is the sole helper traveling with Santa on his delivery rounds on Christmas Eve, with each house featuring a different type of trap for elves. The spunky elf avoids a mechanical “elf snatcher,” hidden in a plate of cookies, as well as simple traps made of tinsel, double-sided tape, and a cardboard box concealing a mean-looking cat. Another trap looks like a bomb hidden in a box of candy, and a complicated trap in a maze has an evil cowboy clown with a branding iron, leading to the elf’s cry, “Hey, you zapped my tushy!” The bomb trap and the branding iron seem to push the envelope of child-made inventions. The final trap is located in a family grocery store that’s booby-trapped with a “Dinner Cannon” shooting out food, including a final pizza that the elf and Santa share. The singsong, rhyming text has a forced cheeriness, full of golly-jolly-holly Christmas spirit and too many exclamation marks, as well as rhyming word pairs that miss the mark. (No, little elf-boy, “smarter” and “harder” do not rhyme.) Bold, busy illustrations in a cartoon style have a cheeky appeal with a focus on the freckle-faced white elf with auburn curls and a costume with a retro vibe. (Santa is also white.)
A forgettable effort that fails to capture any of the magical charm of Santa’s story. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4631-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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