Charming illustrations and an easy-to-follow story will engage the youngest of readers.
A fearful dog finds companionship with a newfound canine friend in Harper’s picture book.
Mack is a gentle giant of a dog whose towering stature contrasts with his internal struggles; despite his imposing size, Mack suffers from anxiety. When Mack’s owner introduces him to Gertie, a spunky and much smaller (and fearless) companion, Gertie teaches Mack her tried-and-true method for facing anxiety: counting to 10 while breathing deeply. There’s a catchy rhyme that goes with the process, which young readers might like to try for themselves (“Remember, 1-2-3, a deep breath for me, / 4-5-6, blow it out like candlesticks, / 7-8-9, everything will be fine, / When I get to 10, I do it again”). With Gertie’s help, Mack learns to confront his fears. In direct, easy-to-follow language, the book teaches important lessons about the transformative power of friendship and the importance of finding courage in the face of fear. (And the empathy displayed by Harper’s pooches sounds a reassuring note throughout.) Calv brings Mack and Gertie to vivid life through his deceptively simple full-color illustrations—even without the text, young readers will likely be able to determine what Mack and Gertie are feeling, thanks to the telling looks on their faces. The calming colors—browns and deep reds as opposed to brighter hues—emphasize the sense of calm that Mack is looking for.
Charming illustrations and an easy-to-follow story will engage the youngest of readers.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9798988363644
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Cannoli & Co. Books
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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