A cleverly illustrated ocean tale offering charming details and accessible educational elements.
A tooth fairy helps out under the sea in Morgan’s picture book.
The shark tooth fairy, Mrs. Chompers, asks the human tooth fairy, Mrs. Pearly White, to fill in for her while she’s out sick. Mrs. Pearly White agrees, chanting a magic spell that turns her into a mermaid for 24 hours. Now under the water, she uses her magical map to locate the many shark pups hiding teeth under their pillows, which she exchanges for treats (it’s not indicated exactly what these treats are). However, because sharks “have more teeth than humans do,” the list of houses Mrs. Pearly White must visit continues to grow. Soon, she runs out of treats. Resourcefully, she opens up oyster shells, collects the pearls, and swaps them for the shark pups’ teeth. After an eventful evening, she returns home in time to tuck in her daughter, Ivory. The story here is sweet and imaginative. The tale would have been more engaging, however, if readers could take part in a lengthier, problem-solving process. The author includes helpful educational resources, like a list of “Ten Ways That You Can Protect Our Waterways,” featuring practical solutions (use reusable water bottles). Civati’s brightly hued, cartoonlike portrayals feature friendly faces with big eyes and depictions of anthropomorphic undersea happenings, like shark pups tucked into their beds. The gradient backdrops, including sea and skylines, are particularly lovely. The human characters are White.
A cleverly illustrated ocean tale offering charming details and accessible educational elements.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64307-268-5
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Mascot Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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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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