Silly fun for fans of whimsy if not for budding bird-watchers
Otto belongs to a family of obsessed bird-watchers so besotted with birds that they have turned their home into an elaborate and fanciful bird blind.
Otto, however, prefers exploring the world to sitting at home in the blind. One day he finds a massive bird footprint, an even larger pile of “poo,” and finally an unusual little bird, best described as a yellow blob. Otto scoops it up and keeps it at home in spite of a family ban on pets. The bird begins to grow rapidly, and Otto is unable to conceal it any longer. Oddly, the bird can camouflage its burgeoning self in any setting, and so the pair continues on its travels, unobserved by the public. When a trip to the zoo makes the bird sad, Otto realizes that it is missing its family. Constructing “the tallest bird-spotting tower ever built,” Otto’s family soon locates the missing bird parents, who are large yellow blobs, similar to their offspring. Bird-watching theme notwithstanding, this wacky, visually exuberant offering is not hampered by connections to the real world; although many birds, real and imaginary, are pictured, not one is ever identified. Carter’s multihued illustrations have an intriguing amount of detail and make the most of varied perspectives, helping to compensate for the rather lackluster plot. Otto and his family present white.
Silly fun for fans of whimsy if not for budding bird-watchers . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5415-7762-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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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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