An uplifting, enjoyable animal tale featuring a sympathetic hero.
A tall giraffe uses her size to help others in this picture book.
Savannah is teased and ostracized due to her towering stature. The other giraffes at school even accuse her of cheating, claiming she uses her “long neck” to scope out the answers. Savannah feigns illness to avoid class but doesn’t fool the doctor, who insists she “had the strongest snort he’d ever heard.” After Savannah’s teacher catches her up on a lesson about lions (the “animal…most dangerous to giraffes”), the student spots “something lurking in the grass.” At lunch, Savannah is the only giraffe tall enough to reach the tree branches. Although still hurt by her classmates’ meanness, she generously drops “some leaves” for them. But when she spots a lion, her quick thinking saves the day. Savannah snorts loudly to warn the others, which enables them to escape safely. Despite her courageous act, Savannah doubts her classmates will show up at her birthday party. But when everyone attends the celebration, the giraffe is ecstatic. The students thank Savannah for her kindness and bravery. Savannah’s plight will be relatable to anyone who has ever struggled to fit in. Maier deftly shows how insecurities can ultimately become personal strengths that readers can utilize to help others. Brueckner’s hand-drawn illustrations depict realistic giraffe habitats and deliver detailed portrayals of the creatures. Featuring browns, greens, and soft blue skies, the appealing scenes include a few anthropomorphic touches, such as giraffes toting backpacks.
An uplifting, enjoyable animal tale featuring a sympathetic hero.Pub Date: June 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64746-706-7
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Author Academy Elite
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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