An immersive window into Bengali wedding traditions.
A young girl travels to Bangladesh to attend her first family wedding.
Samina and her mother are greeted at the airport by her aunt Ruby, cousin Yasmine (the bride-to-be), and cousin Nita, who’s Samina’s age. As they arrive at Yasmine’s home and wedding preparations start in earnest, Samina marvels: The whole house is decked out in twinkling lights! Nita shows her the array of gifts for Yasmine and her fiancé and hands Samina a shiny gift, too: brightly colored bangles. The girls busy themselves making marigold garlands—known as Komla Phul—and practicing their dance moves. They’re amused by the Duyta Mach tradition, where the groom’s family sends the bride’s family two fish dressed up as a bride and groom, symbolizing good fortune. Pre-wedding festivities begin with the holud ceremony, where family and friends apply turmeric paste to the faces, arms, and feet of the bride and groom. Samina and Nita also decorate their hands with henna and partake in Rong Khlea, an outdoor event where people hurl colorful powders at one another. At last, it’s time for the wedding day; the bride and groom exchange vows, and Samina’s aunt holds up a mirror so they can see their reflection as a couple for the first time. Though there’s little conflict or drama here, Zaman offers a valuable cultural primer, with inserts expounding on each of the rituals mentioned and illustrations brimming with color, pattern, and detail.
An immersive window into Bengali wedding traditions. (glossary, author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781771476591
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
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
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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