An old Christmas poem is paired with Mr. Boddington’s distinctive illustration style.
Linear brush strokes, multiple patterns, flat perspectives, and blocks of pink distinguish the illustrations accompanying this rendition of the familiar Christmas chestnut. The text of the poem is set in couplets against bubbles or solid background colors. Busy pictures show a brown-skinned family sleeping inside a multistory residence set in a small, Christmas-themed village, with Santa’s sleigh and reindeer riding above. Elves with various skin tones and hair textures assist Santa, who is White, with the deliveries. Going down the chimney and inside the narrator’s home, the elves explore playfully while Santa finds a moment to sit, smoking his pipe and reading the newspaper. The perspective of the spreads resembles a view into a dollhouse. Santa’s list of major cities to visit includes Nairobi, Rio, Istanbul, Tokyo, and Mumbai, among other destinations, but the names on his list of “nice” children (and pets) are noticeably and disappointingly not nearly so international in character. Text within the illustrations adds details to the story, including a nod to Jean-Michel Basquiat on the family’s kitchen bulletin board. Santa’s sleigh takes off into the star-studded night sky above a zoo filled with active animals in the middle of the red and green town. This unexpected combination of old poetry with a modern artistic style will find an enthusiastic audience in Mr. Boddington’s existing fans and may win the design studio new ones as well. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
This fresh take on an old text is worth checking out. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-38407-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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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
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS
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