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
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sweet, reassuring fun—and a story to fully embrace.
A slug longs for a hug and finds it unexpectedly.
Doug the slug would really like a hug and plods on, seeking affection. But a caterpillar, bug, spider, and worm want no part of hugging a slug. They are just not feeling it (might they feel sluggish?), voicing their disdain in no uncertain terms with expressions like, “Grimy, slippy!” and “Squelchy, slimy!” What’s a slug to do? Undeterred, Doug keeps trying. He meets Gail, a snail with crimson lipstick and hip, red glasses; she happens to be as grimy and squelchy as he is, so he figures she is the hugger of his dreams. The two embark upon a madcap romantic courtship. Alas, Gail also draws the (slimy) line at hugging Doug. Finally, mournful Doug meets the best hugger and the true love of his life, proving there’s someone for everyone. This charmer will have readers rooting for Doug (and perhaps even wanting to hug him). Expressed in simple, jaunty verses that read and scan smoothly, the brief tale revolves around words that mainly rhyme with Doug and slug. Given that the story stretches vocabulary so well with regard to rhyming words, children can be challenged after a read-aloud session to offer up words that rhyme with slug and snail. The colorful and humorous illustrations are lively and cheerful; googly-eyed Doug is, like the other characters, entertaining and expressive. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sweet, reassuring fun—and a story to fully embrace. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-66590-046-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
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