An amusing holiday outing for Clark the Shark fans.
Hale and Francis continue their popular series about the boisterous shark named Clark with a story about a Secret Santa gift exchange in his classroom.
The Christmas holiday is celebrated at Theodore Roosterfish Elementary, and all the sea-creature students are to draw names for their gift exchange. The teacher, a pink octopus named Mrs. Inkydink, explains the rules of the Secret Santa plan, and Clark draws the name of Benny Blowfish. Clark’s focus over the next weeks is on his own forthcoming gift and who his Secret Santa might be rather than on what present he’ll give to Benny. By the time of the gift exchange, unprepared Clark gives Benny his own Captain Suckermouth comic book as a last-minute gift, feeling bad about his lack of preparation. In a neatly satisfying twist, Benny is also Clark’s Secret Santa and gives Clark the very same comic book for his gift. Clark’s exuberant character and basically good heart shine through his bluster, and he even learns a little lesson about the spirit of holiday giving. The comical illustrations painted with acrylics have a fresh, contemporary feel with lots of bright patterns, white or pale gray backgrounds, and Clark’s boldly striped shirt. Clever touches in the illustrations include a starfish on top of the green coral Christmas tree and several athletic socks for Sid the Squid’s Secret Santa present.
An amusing holiday outing for Clark the Shark fans. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-237452-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
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