by Chris Barash ; illustrated by Alessandra Psacharopulo ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2018
An attractive celebration, though not an introductory one.
A bucolic autumn in a country setting heralds the Jewish New Year.
A young family with two children (brother and sister, judging by attire) gets ready to celebrate the holiday. The simple, rhyming text and the refrain, “Rosh Hashanah is on its way,” will encourage young listeners to participate in read-alouds. The family gathers apples in an orchard, and then Mom buys pomegranates as the child narrator notes it is “a fruit I’ve never tried!” (One holiday custom is to eat a new seasonal fruit.) The text then says: “And we hope to do a mitzvah for each of the seeds inside….” This line is on a double-page spread showing the siblings watching Mom’s hands break the fruit apart to show the many seeds inside, but the word “mitzvah” (“commandment” in the religious sense or “good deed” in more secular usage) is not explained. The kids make cards and hear the shofar blown at a religious class (attended by children of various skin tones and a white boy in a wheelchair). After synagogue, the diverse congregants greet one another with “Shanah Tovah.” Then friends and relatives of different ages and races arrive for the festive meal (the protagonists’ family is white). The pleasant, soft-edged, matte illustrations depict an idealized rural world. The lack of background information suggests an audience familiar with the traditions shown.
An attractive celebration, though not an introductory one. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8075-3396-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
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by Alice Walstead ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2023
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
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by Alice Walstead ; illustrated by Emma Gillette & Andy Elkerton
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by Erin Guendelsberger ; illustrated by Elizaveta Tretyakova ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2020
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground.
A little red sleigh has big Christmas dreams.
Although the detailed, full-color art doesn’t anthropomorphize the protagonist (which readers will likely identify as a sled and not a sleigh), a close third-person text affords the object thoughts and feelings while assigning feminine pronouns. “She longed to become Santa’s big red sleigh,” reads an early line establishing the sleigh’s motivation to leave her Christmas-shop home for the North Pole. Other toys discourage her, but she perseveres despite creeping self-doubt. A train and truck help the sleigh along, and when she wishes she were big, fast, and powerful like them, they offer encouragement and counsel patience. When a storm descends after the sleigh strikes out on her own, an unnamed girl playing in the snow brings her to a group of children who all take turns riding the sleigh down a hill. When the girl brings her home, the sleigh is crestfallen she didn’t reach the North Pole. A convoluted happily-ever-after ending shows a note from Santa that thanks the sleigh for giving children joy and invites her to the North Pole next year. “At last she understood what she was meant to do. She would build her life up spreading joy, one child at a time.” Will she leave the girl’s house to be gifted to other children? Will she stay and somehow also reach ever more children? Readers will be left wondering. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 31.8% of actual size.)
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72822-355-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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