Well-meaning but misses the mark.
The weeklong Jewish harvest holiday of Sukkot is celebrated at Auntie Sanyu’s Ugandan home.
Auntie Sanyu, a Ugandan Jew, or Abayudaya, builds her sukkah in her lush garden, then invites friends and family to come and stay. Warthog arrives, politely eats, and shakes the lulav (a palm frond bound together with branches of willow and myrtle for use in the Sukkot ritual), but when he sniffs the etrog, the ceremonial citrus’ lemony scent is so appealing he cannot let it go. On the successive six days when Lion, Parrot, Camel, Giraffe, and Rhino come, each takes a turn shaking the lulav, but Warthog selfishly holds onto the etrog, to the anger and annoyance of everyone else. “They took turns with the lulav. They shook it west to east. / But Warthog grabbed the etrog! And Camel muttered, BEAST!” The rhyming cumulative tale ends amicably when Auntie Sanyu’s sole human guest, her niece, Sara, joins the group and nicely asks Warthog for the etrog. “She made him feel so sheepish, he couldn’t tell her ‘No.’ / Then Warthog SHARED the etrog, and the guests all cried, BRAVO!” Digital artwork provides a colorful shot of African ambiance with animated depictions of the animals and stylized, deeply brown-skinned women. This alternate perspective presents familiar components of the holiday and provides background on the Abayudaya in an author’s note and glossary. Unfortunately, it perpetuates stereotypes of Africa by emphasizing animals over humans; surely Auntie Sanyu has more than one relation to celebrate with?
Well-meaning but misses the mark. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5415-0966-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
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Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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