A splendor for the senses even as it promotes togetherness and teaches a second language. A great addition to any library!...
Rhyming couplets in English and Spanish offer a language lesson to readers who join multicultural friends at a vibrant neighborhood celebration with music, fireworks, and a fabulous parade.
The day begins with sunshine as the text invites readers to follow a happy, interracial group that includes children and adults of varying skin tones to a celebration of Latinx culture on the town plaza. Watch the festivalgoers hold hands as they wander amid balloons and banderas. Enjoy the crowd as they eat hot dogs and hamburguesas while enjoying a parade that includes a big red fire engine, a line of fast blue motocicletas, gymnasts, flamenco dancers, musicians, antique cars, and floats. See young children celebrate with parents, caregivers, and grandparents in vibrant double-page spreads that feature approximately 50 diverse characters who reappear. Young readers will enjoy studying the illustrations to find the familiar faces with whom they started the day. Even as the party is briefly interrupted by a storm, the joy isn’t dampened—only improved by a rainbow with its colors labeled in Spanish. The book is a triumph for Elya and Aranda, whose rollicking rhymes and engaging pictures, respectively, portray different cultures sharing fun activities. Cognates are used in the Spanish text, making the language lesson easy for English-only readers. There is a glossary at the back of the book to clarify if needed.
A splendor for the senses even as it promotes togetherness and teaches a second language. A great addition to any library! (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62014-271-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Lighthearted and un-scary enough for bedtime.
Talk show host Fallon and illustrator Deas follow up 5 More Sleeps ’Til Christmas (2020) with a story of a youngster preparing for Halloween.
“It’s FIVE more sleeps ’til Halloween, / that spooky time of year / where all the ghosts are wide awake / as nighttime’s drawing near.” A calendar page with a large numeral 5 curls before a bright orange pumpkin. An orange-haired, light-skinned moppet wearing an enormous pair of blue glasses is hunkered down in bed with Gary the dog, whose vibrant blue coloring matches the bedspread. Occasionally accompanied by a sibling, the young narrator counts down day by day, describing seasonal activities: picking out a costume, navigating a corn maze, watching scary movies, taking part in a parade, going on a hayride, and trick-or-treating. The rhyming verses are sometimes a bit rocky but always fun. The text is periodically punctuated by the word boo, which appears in large, cartoonlike lettering; that, along with the calendar countdown motif, adds a pleasant repetition. Though the child confides feelings of trepidation (“What if bats fly in my room? / I think I’ll close my window now”), descriptions of scary moments are always offset by brightly colored, exuberant artwork. Humor abounds: Gary looks both hilarious and sweet dressed in a ghost costume that matches the narrator’s. The final page neatly closes the circle as the child goes from anticipating the holiday to participating in it and back again.
Lighthearted and un-scary enough for bedtime. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781250857798
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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