by Don Wood & Audrey Wood & illustrated by Don Wood & Audrey Wood ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2002
The little mouse who didn’t want to share in The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear (1984) returns to celebrate Christmas in this delightful sequel from Audrey Wood and Don Wood. They again use the same inventive format of the first-person narrative voice speaking directly to the mouse character, who gazes out boldly at the reader and adjusts his expressions and behavior in an interactive way that draws the reader into the story. At first, Mouse doesn’t want to share any of his stacks of Christmas gifts when reminded of big, hungry Bear who also loves Christmas presents. Several double-paged spreads on the oversized pages show Mouse barring the door, setting tacks around the tree, and chaining the presents together. Comments from the narrative voice cause Mouse to feel empathy for Bear, who is never seen but is presented as terrifying but sad because he never receives any presents of his own. Mouse bravely takes a load of presents to leave for Bear, decorates the Bear’s tree to the strains of “Quick little Mouse. Someone big is waking up. . . .” and in return, receives a huge, wrapped box, leaving it to the reader to speculate what might be inside. Mouse exemplifies the lightning-fast mood changes of a young child, looking straight out at his audience and showing pride, fear, greed, obstinacy, empathy, and awe in turn on his amazingly expressive face. Sharing with others, even when it’s hard, is truly an important lesson, and Mouse’s small heart grows three sizes in this touching tale. (Picture book. 2-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-439-32092-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2002
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More by Audrey Wood
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by Audrey Wood ; illustrated by Don Wood
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by Audrey Wood ; illustrated by Don Wood
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by Audrey Wood & illustrated by Don Wood
by Alice Walstead ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2023
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
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More In The Series
by Alice Walstead ; illustrated by Emma Gillette & Andy Elkerton
by Alice Walstead ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton
by Alice Walstead ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton
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by Alice Walstead ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton
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by Alice Walstead ; illustrated by Paul Gill
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by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 2014
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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More by Alice Schertle
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by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry
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by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph
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by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph
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