Sure to sweeten holiday traditions with the true spirit of friendship.
A tale about gifts, friends, and tasty treats.
Hedgehog bakes gingerbread cookie gifts for her friends: The mice’s cookies are shaped like snowflakes, the squirrels’ are shaped like trees, and the rabbits each get a specially decorated rabbit cookie. But what about Bear? Bear is a special friend, after all. When Hedgehog arrives back home after delivering gifts, she sees the frosted roof of her cottage and is inspired. In step-by-step illustrations, she creates a wonderful gingerbread house for Bear—one that’s even bigger than Hedgehog herself. The journey to deliver the finished house begins smoothly, but a whipping wind soon reduces the gift to crumbs. Bear rescues Hedgehog from the storm, and later, in the safety and warmth of home, Bear admits to making a mess of Hedgehog’s gift earlier in the day and notes that they were planning to try again tomorrow. Happily, this admission leads to the best gift of all. Recipes for spice-laced gingerbread cookies and honey frosting begin the book, and perhaps all those spices keep this simple story about friendship and holiday gift giving from becoming too saccharine. Hedgehog is adorable, wearing emerald-green earmuffs, baking up a storm, and snuggling in a teacup bed. A bright-red ribbon winds through the story, artfully separating flashbacks from the present, linking baking steps, and focusing attention on important images. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sure to sweeten holiday traditions with the true spirit of friendship. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2922-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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