Despite the fragile nature of the final tableau, this is a lovely version of the beloved song that could be used by an adult...
An exquisite interpretation of the ever popular Christmas song “Jingle Bells” is a companion piece to Puttapipat’s stellar edition of The Night Before Christmas (2007).
As in the previous volume, the elegant illustrations in ink and gouache have the look of old-fashioned silhouettes, with sharp, black details highlighted against snowy-white backgrounds. The setting for the song follows a couple dressed in Victorian clothing as they travel home in their ornate sleigh loaded with a Christmas tree and a red sack of presents. The words to the song unfold across the bottoms of the pages in white type set against black backgrounds decorated with sprigs of holly. Two of the right-hand pages have an angled, cut-paper edge, one an intricately designed tree and the other the outline of roofs in a town. As these pages are turned, they become part of the design of the following pages. As intrigued children will likely want to keep flipping these back and forth, it’s a good thing the pages are exceptionally sturdy. The song concludes with a spectacular pop-up spread with white trees and buildings, townspeople in black silhouettes, and a central evergreen tree decorated for Christmas. In front is the couple in the one-horse sleigh, this time all in white. This pop-up scene is breathtakingly beautiful but also extremely delicate, making it a look-but-don’t-touch conclusion.
Despite the fragile nature of the final tableau, this is a lovely version of the beloved song that could be used by an adult reader to mesmerize a young audience. (Picture book. 3-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7821-0
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
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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