Ruby is so repellent before her metamorphosis readers will be hard put to care for her when it comes. (Picture book. 4-7)
Bright candy colors and rhyming text characterize this tale of an utterly self-centered princess and her gentle dad, the king.
Princess Ruby’s birthday is coming up, and she wants a zillion presents, and she wants the best party, and she has the palace staff and her father at a run. Even her frizzy hair looks demanding. When the big day finally comes, she opens the biggest present and demands more. Well, there are presents everywhere: on the stairs, in all the bedrooms and even piled in the bathrooms. Ruby is delighted until an ominous cracking and creaking reveal the palace is about to collapse under the weight of all the gifts. The king sends Ruby outside to safety, and she tells him he must rescue every single present! When the castle does indeed collapse, Ruby realizes that what is dearest to her is her dad, and with the help of firefighters and citizenry, the king is found safe, protected by the cardboard box that held her treehouse. Undergoing a complete change of heart, Ruby serves a little cake and tea to everyone, and she “live[s] happily ever after / with her daddy in the tree.” The predominant color for everything is an acid pink, although the last image fades to a prettier pastel palette.
Ruby is so repellent before her metamorphosis readers will be hard put to care for her when it comes. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7398-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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