A must-have picture book that educates while it thoroughly entertains.
A festive Creole story that will encourage readers to dance, sing, and celebrate Carnival.
Melba’s excitement for Carnival makes it hard for her to sleep the night before. On her way to the festival, she encounters Misyé Francois, who plays steel pan drums and sings a song about a “crazy mannikou.” Melba stops to listen a little too long and misses her bus, and both a mannikou (readers unfamiliar with St. Lucian Creole will recognize this as an opossum from the illustrations) and the drummer follow her to Carnival, as does everyone else she encounters along the way, both human and animal. When Melba nears town, she sees a crowd of brown-skinned St. Lucians dressed in costumes and bright, patterned clothes. Glatt’s stylized illustrations portray most characters with reddish-brown skin, long noses, and rosy cheeks; she paints the tropics in deep greens and bright yellows and the cityscape in an array of bright colors. Melba and friends miss the parade but make their own, delighting bystanders. The backmatter bridges cultural gaps by explaining what Creole is, defining the culturally specific language, and explaining where St. Lucia is and what Carnival celebrates, both historically and now. The author’s note reveals St. Lucian writer Paul’s motivation for creating the book, and Glatt’s illustrator’s note explains her Brazilian experience of Carnival. Glatt’s paint, pencil, and crayon illustrations truly capture the festive spirit of this celebration.
A must-have picture book that educates while it thoroughly entertains. (glossary, maps) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64686-161-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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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
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