An intergenerational friendship and a busy holiday made meaningful set this title apart.
When Kerry needs a break from her family’s Christmas overload, she discovers new traditions with her neighbor Mrs. Flores.
From the day after Thanksgiving, Kerry’s family goes “totally berzerk” with Christmas everything, all the time. Christmas lights, Christmas music, Christmas cookies, Christmas elves, Christmas specials on Christmas channels. Overwhelmed, Kerry goes outside, but there too, her neighbors’ huge Christmas displays adorn their snow-covered lawns. Except at Mrs. Flores’ house. Kerry greets her—in Spanish—and helps her with her groceries. Mrs. Flores invites Kerry in for cocoa. Kerry notices Mrs. Flores’ small tabletop tree decorated only with paper flowers and accompanied by a photo of a family that she learns is in Mexico. Mrs. Flores teaches Kerry to make paper flowers. They sing and dance, decorate, and light a candle for Mrs. Flores’ family. Then Kerry helps Mrs. Flores contact her family via a new tablet, a gift. Kerry brings new traditions home, and her mom suggests inviting Mrs. Flores over for Christmas dinner. Kerry and family are White; Mrs. Flores and family are brown-skinned with curly hair. The illustrations use speech bubbles in both English and Spanish to advance the story; the art perfectly reflects the overload, relief, and joy that Kerry experiences: Busy spreads give way to simpler ones, and a refreshing new color scheme is introduced with the paper flowers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An intergenerational friendship and a busy holiday made meaningful set this title apart. (craft) (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2800-4
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
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
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Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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