When it’s time to choose a pet, a young witch named Mitzi requires something that is definitely not cute or cuddly. Her creepy relatives have appropriately creepy pets, like piranhas and crocodiles, and one so creepy that it cannot be identified. At the pet store, the shop lady with the short green nose and long blue teeth helps her in selecting from an assortment of repulsive creatures. Mitzi brings home a slimy toad and a pair of bats, but they don’t participate in her activities or respond to her in any way. The toad just keeps eating bugs and the bats just “hang around with each other.” When a kitten appears at her door, she reluctantly invites it in. Though it is “simply not creepy enough” and much too cute, she discovers that it provides true companionship and love. She names the kitten “Hoodwink,” in recognition of her surprise at actually loving a pet so adorable. In a nice twist on the homily, she admits that appearances are indeed deceiving. Howard employs simple, child-friendly language that never simpers. His colorful, appealing cartoon illustrations go beyond the text to depict a charming, eccentric little witch doing perfectly ordinary witchlike activities. Mitzi may be a witch, but she is entirely non-threatening. She eats “Rice Creepies” for breakfast, travels to the pet store by broomstick, reads “Vulture Culture” with great interest, and wears slippers that look surprisingly like the Tasmanian Devil. These illustrations enhance and enrich an amusing story that is sure to please. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-15-202656-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2001
A forgettable effort that fails to capture any of the magical charm of Santa’s story. (Picture book. 3-6)
Wallace and Elkerton continue their series about catching elusive mythical creatures (How to Catch a Leprechaun, 2016, etc.) with this Christmas story about an elf who must avoid traps constructed by children before Santa’s annual visit.
The unnamed elf narrator is the sole helper traveling with Santa on his delivery rounds on Christmas Eve, with each house featuring a different type of trap for elves. The spunky elf avoids a mechanical “elf snatcher,” hidden in a plate of cookies, as well as simple traps made of tinsel, double-sided tape, and a cardboard box concealing a mean-looking cat. Another trap looks like a bomb hidden in a box of candy, and a complicated trap in a maze has an evil cowboy clown with a branding iron, leading to the elf’s cry, “Hey, you zapped my tushy!” The bomb trap and the branding iron seem to push the envelope of child-made inventions. The final trap is located in a family grocery store that’s booby-trapped with a “Dinner Cannon” shooting out food, including a final pizza that the elf and Santa share. The singsong, rhyming text has a forced cheeriness, full of golly-jolly-holly Christmas spirit and too many exclamation marks, as well as rhyming word pairs that miss the mark. (No, little elf-boy, “smarter” and “harder” do not rhyme.) Bold, busy illustrations in a cartoon style have a cheeky appeal with a focus on the freckle-faced white elf with auburn curls and a costume with a retro vibe. (Santa is also white.)
A forgettable effort that fails to capture any of the magical charm of Santa’s story. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4631-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Cookie-cutter predictability.
After all the daring escapes in the How To Catch… series, will the kids be able to catch Santa?
Oddly, previous installments saw the children trying (and failing) to catch an elf and a reindeer, but both are easily captured in this story. Santa, however, is slippery. Tempted but not fooled by poinsettias, a good book (attached to a slingshot armed with a teddy bear projectile), and, of course, milk and cookies, Santa foils every plan. The hero in a red suit has a job to do. Presents must be placed, and lists must be checked. He has no time for traps and foolery (except if you’re the elf, who falls for every one of them). Luckily, Santa helps the little rascal escape each time. Little is new here—the kids resort to similar snares found in previous works: netting, lures, and technological wonders such as the Santa Catcher 5000. Although the rhythm falters quite a bit (“How did we get out you ask? / It looked like we were done for. / Santa’s magic is very real, / and I cannot reveal more”), fans of the series may not mind. Santa and Christmas just might be enough to overcome the flaws. Santa and the elf are light-skinned, one of the children is brown-skinned, and the other presents as Asian. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cookie-cutter predictability. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728274270
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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