Waber (Lyle at Christmas, 1998, etc.) introduces another beguiling and worthy creature into an unsuspecting home where it first disrupts, then engages, then makes itself a part. First off, the home is a pretty curious abode of great silence: “the quiet man, the quiet woman, / the quiet cat and bird, / ate their dinner, sipped their drink, / and never spoke a word.” They would never eat a radish, for instance, because of the snap-crunch. “They ate instead, / stewed tomatoes, / mashed potatoes, / and puddings made of bread.” Into this scene of utter tranquility, one stormy night, enters a mouse, “who was tired and hungry, / and had seen better days.” The mouse finds the pantry and starts tucking it in. Sated, he takes a snooze and, oh, how his snores rock the house. “Glassware clinked, / dishes clattered. / A bowl from the cupboard / fell and shattered.” Blasted from their sleep, the house’s inhabitants hasten to the source of the racket. The mouse explains his dire circumstances, shows contrition, and learns to walk softly in the world. Except for the nighttime, when he continues to snore like a series of gas explosions. Earplugs remedy that annoyance. Live and let live, Waber counsels, we all have our quirks (snoring is a public nuisance, but what about that obsessive/compulsive need for quiet?), and always extend a helping hand to our fellow creatures. Read aloud, Waber’s verse is music—“His snores were roars / with whistling encores”—and his artwork roughly handsome, with the deep-dish color of crayons, plus plenty of it is in panels to keep eyes entertained as the verse unwinds. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-395-97518-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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