The richness of this book’s words and images will inspire readers to learn more about this holiday that never should have...
Johnson tells a tale of Juneteenth in Texas through the eyes of a child, while Lewis’ earth-toned watercolor illustrations capture the quotidian aspects of the way of life emancipation ended.
The young female speaker who lives and works on the plantation with her mother, siblings and others takes personally the titular phrase, “all different now,” when freedom comes. Just before the Union general announces on the balcony of the big house that the slaves are “now and forever free,” rumors of this news has spread so quickly from the port to the countryside that Lewis includes an image with four vertical panels showing slaves engaged in many different types of work, passing the word and responding with surprise, shock and praise to the news. The historical details that Lewis integrates into the images situate Johnson’s story historically and give young readers a sense of what cotton plantations in the mid-1860s looked like. In the backmatter, Johnson makes clear why this bit of history matters to her, and Lewis shares the impossibility of contemporary Americans’ reaching a true understanding of the lives of 19th-century slaves—but how important it is to try.
The richness of this book’s words and images will inspire readers to learn more about this holiday that never should have been necessary…but was. (Web resources, glossary) (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: May 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-689-87376-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Some readers may like this retooling a lot. / But new insights into the tale it has not.
A dog’s-eye view of Dr. Seuss’ beloved Yuletide tale.
“On the day before Christmas, / In Who-ville Town Square, / Every Who down in Who-ville / Was gathering there.” Here to give his side of the story via a third-person rhyming narrative is Max, a dog familiar to readers of the original book and/or viewers of the animated TV special based on Seuss’ book. It’s a grand idea: Who wouldn’t want a fresh perspective from Max, the Grinch’s long-suffering but loyal companion? The trouble is that aside from trying to alert little Cindy-Lou Who to the Grinch’s advances, Max doesn’t do anything to hinder the Grinch from robbing the town blind, so this version doesn’t lend any real insight to the story. For some readers, this may raise the question: Why not just stick with the original? While this version’s rhymes aren’t as inventive as the good Dr.’s, Heim does a solid job imitating his style; fans of the Grinch TV special will hear Boris Karloff plummily reciting the text, especially wry lines like “At house after house, while the clocks kept tock-ticking, / Old Max watched the Grinch and his sneaky St. Nick-ing.” Ruiz’s art is a fittingly faithful homage. His palette splits the difference between the 1957 book’s visual sobriety and the 1966 television production’s optical intensity.
Some readers may like this retooling a lot. / But new insights into the tale it has not. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9798217228072
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
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