Ultimately, this lacks the solid and seamless math practice of the first; it’s just some math annoyingly mixed with a few...
The first, fabulous vaudevillian math escapades of the Wing Wing Brothers (The Wing Wing Brothers Math Spectacular, 2012) give way to this lackluster second adventure at a carnival, with the action divided into three amusements.
Focusing on counting to 100 by 10s, the first amusement finds the five brothers competing to ring the bell at the top of a strength tower. While each brother does better than the last, the fifth one providing the slapstick they are known for, and each scores a multiple of 10, there is no counting here. The second amusement at least involves math: Each brother has a tray of 10, 20 or 30 wieners, which readers count as they come to the table, then subtract as the brothers gorge themselves sick. The last episode puts the brothers on the Wedgie Wheel. Readers add and subtract by 10s and 20s as the ride stops at each car, loading and unloading passengers. Prominent mathematical equations in a large red typeface help readers with the math in the last two amusements, though since the answers are included, they don’t really have to think at all. Long’s pencil-and-digital illustrations are still comical, but the slapstick just isn’t as funny this time around.
Ultimately, this lacks the solid and seamless math practice of the first; it’s just some math annoyingly mixed with a few kinda-funny jokes. (Math picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2604-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
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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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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