Clever and uplifting.
Rain ruins a birthday party but leads to the discovery of new friends (furry and otherwise).
With creative views on the passage of time, a child prepares for a birthday party at the park. It took “twelve moons” to get to the big day, and it took “two hours,” “five smudges,” and “half a sandwich / to write the invitations.” Soggy weather spoils the party plans, but while leaving the park, forlorn and disappointed, the child spots a lost dog. Observant readers will have noticed on a previous spread that another child wanders the park, looking for the pet. The birthday child seeks the dog’s owner—even stopping to query some ducks (cue the giggles)—and eventually succeeds. Both families celebrate the birthday (inside), the protagonist noting that “two wishes came true” that day; readers putting their inferencing skills to work will recognize those wishes as a party, despite the rain, and a pet-human reunion. Everyone in the book is depicted as White; the illustrator uses, in a palette dominated by teal, rose, and yellow watercolors, simple black lines to outline people’s bodies, their skin depicted in the negative white space therein. The inventive ways in which the child measures time frames and activities—baking the cake involves not just eggs, but “two mountains” (i.e., the heaps of flour on the table)—may have readers chiming in with their own examples. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Clever and uplifting. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: July 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11954-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 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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