by Molly Idle ; illustrated by Molly Idle ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2024
Warm and silly: a perfectly pleasant party.
Learn the ins and outs of birthday party etiquette with two young kids and their prehistoric pack of pals.
Reprising a familiar cast with more sage advice, this time on how to behave politely at a birthday, the story reads charmingly like an old-school advice handbook. Youngsters who might be anxious about attending a birthday bash will find timeless, clear advice like “thank your host for a wonderful time” to be legitimately helpful. A blond child with an unfailingly positive spirit, whom readers will recognize from previous titles, makes an excellent guide, even when the massive, childlike dinosaurs make a few faux pas. Drawn in glowing Prismacolor pencils, the vintage-inspired, sherbet-colored illustrations have a warmth and effervescence just right for afternoon festivities. Light touches, including a stegosaurus hogging a few too many party hats, are whimsical and cheekily demonstrate what not to do. At points, though, the friendly, oversized dinosaurs are so big that it can be difficult to decipher the action. Many gags, such as Rex trying a little too hard to blow out all the candles, will inspire giggling. An emotionally resonant ending, in which the protagonist’s younger sibling gives Rex a teddy bear, is a Jurassic highlight. Both children are light-skinned.
Warm and silly: a perfectly pleasant party. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9780425290149
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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by Adam Wallace ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2017
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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by Alice Walstead ; illustrated by Emma Gillette & Andy Elkerton
by Alice Walstead ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton
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by James Dean ; illustrated by James Dean ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2018
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
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