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SAINT NICK AND THE SPACE NICKS

Name: SAINT NICK AND THE SPACE NICKS
Author: Richard Chase Mears

by Richard Chase Mears & illustrated by Bill Westerfield & developed by Stubborn Pixel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 12, 2012

A promising premise and appealing pictures—but no great improvement over the obscure 2004 print version.

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Earthly Santa meets a host of alien counterparts in this well-meant holiday tale.

When an amazed Santa witnesses the crash of a flying saucer (“Electrons and protons measured the sky, / As the sound of sleigh bells followed it by”), he just has to help. He joins Jupnick from Jupiter and a teeming crowd of other aliens garbed in red and white fur to help Venick from Venus finish delivering toys until “Christmas shined wonderously before morning’s bright light.” Years later, the aliens return to rescue Christmas on this planet, then sail off singing “Merry Christmas Good Earth, and a Happy New Year!” in “voices of gold.” Much in need of editorial work, the text is not only clumsily modeled on “The Night Before Christmas,” with some Seussian influences, but does not always match the optional audio reading. The cheerily colored, roughly brushed art makes a better impression, as do the tap-activated digital additions—which range from waving pseudopods and whirling stars to Santa’s hearty “Ho-Ho-Ho”s (plus one bellowed “GREAT CAESAR’S GHOST!”) and a variety of chortles.

A promising premise and appealing pictures—but no great improvement over the obscure 2004 print version. (thumbnail index, five savable coloring pages) (iPad holiday storybook app. 6-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2012

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stubborn Pixel

Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012

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HENRY AND MUDGE AND THE STARRY NIGHT

From the Henry and Mudge series

by Cynthia Rylant & illustrated by Sucie Stevenson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1998

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Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)

Pub Date: April 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-689-81175-6

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
ROSETOWN FOREVER
by Cynthia Rylant

- BOOK REVIEW
A BOOK OF LOVES
by Cynthia Rylant ; illustrated by Cynthia Rylant

- BOOK REVIEW
HORNBEAM BY AND LARGE
by Cynthia Rylant ; illustrated by Arthur Howard

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BIG CHICKENS

by Leslie Helakoski & illustrated by Henry Cole ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2006

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With wordplay reminiscent of Margie Palatini at her best, Helakoski takes four timorous chickens into, then out of, the literal and figurative woods. Fleeing the henhouse after catching sight of a wolf, the pusillanimous pullets come to a deep ditch: “ ‘What if we can’t jump that far?’ ‘What if we fall in the ditch?’ ‘What if we get sucked into the mud?’ The chickens tutted, putted, and flutted. They butted into themselves and each other, until one by one . . . ” they do fall in. But then they pick themselves up and struggle out. Ensuing encounters with cows and a lake furnish similar responses and outcomes; ultimately they tumble into the wolf’s very cave, where they “picked, pecked, and pocked. They ruffled, puffled, and shuffled. They shrieked, squeaked, and freaked, until . . . ” their nemesis scampers away in panic. Fluttering about in pop-eyed terror, the portly, partly clothed hens make comical figures in Cole’s sunny cartoons (as does the flummoxed wolf)—but the genuine triumph in their final strut—“ ‘I am a big, brave chicken,’ said one chicken. ‘Ohh . . . ’ said the others. ‘Me too.’ ‘Me three.’ ‘Me four’ ”—brings this tribute to chicken power to a rousing close. (Picture book. 6-8)