Sure to steal readers’ hearts.
A punctilious pig’s job as Cupid goes awry.
Cupig, a rotund porcine hero in heart-adorned undies, loves love. She adores it so much that every year on Valentine’s Day, she takes her trusty bow and arrow and helps spread desire. This year, however, the weather affects her aim. Gray swirls of gusty wind blow her arrows astray, causing her to accidentally hit some familiar, well-established couples. “Now Peanut Butter stopped loving Jelly / and fell in love with something smelly.” (The new pair is Peanut Butter and Anchovies.) Poor Jelly is tipped over, leaving a smudge shaped like a broken heart on the counter. “Needle and Thread had been a great team; / now they’re falling apart at the seams.” (Needle has fallen in love with a haystack; Thread is understandably unraveled.) Pair after pair are broken up and matched with new partners. Butterfly falls out of love with the sky and in love with a horse, and Paper’s affections shift from Pen to a polar bear; love knows no bounds. After some reflection, however, Cupig realizes her mistakes and goes off to set things right. Some readers may be slightly uneasy with the implication that romance should blossom only between couples who seem “right” for each other, but it’s mostly just a silly story of classic pairs reuniting. Tattersfield keeps a jaunty pace, and Sayegh’s smiling (and distraught) inanimate objects are a delight.
Sure to steal readers’ hearts. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Dec. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593623107
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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