A sweet introduction to a significant Chinese tradition, glimpsed through the eyes of a loving family.
A family observes the Chinese holiday of Qing Ming, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day.
The young narrator notes that today the family will be visiting Yeh Yeh’s (Grandfather’s) grave. The child’s memories of Yeh Yeh are floating away, and the little one frets: “I close my eyes and see Yeh Yeh’s face…But I have trouble remembering the sound of his laugh.” And the child remembers painting calligraphy with Yeh Yeh but struggles to recall “how his hand steered mine.” But, as Mama and Baba point out, visiting the gravesites of loved ones helps keep their memories alive. Arriving at the cemetery, the family sweeps leaves and weeds from the grave, puts out Yeh Yeh’s favorite foods, lights incense, and prays. The child tells Yeh Yeh about highlights from the family’s year (“Mama’s art is famous!” “And I’m starring in the school play!”). Wen’s soft, colorful gouache, pencil, and brush pen illustrations include a glowing figure of Yeh Yeh floating from the tombstone to enjoy the family’s offerings and stories. When the family burns joss paper, the protagonist also includes a few drawings of things that Yeh Yeh might enjoy in the afterlife, like a bicycle and a calligraphy brush. With this warm story, Liao highlights the love between a grandparent and grandchild while also clearly explaining a major Chinese holiday that gets little attention in the West.
A sweet introduction to a significant Chinese tradition, glimpsed through the eyes of a loving family. (author’s note, glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9780593806975
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
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
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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