Fans of Dickens and It’s a Wonderful Life will find much to love here.
A wealthy woman confronts her past, present, and future in this modern take on A Christmas Carol.
Ellie Printh is a rich, powerful woman whose life is one of strict control over her successful career and enterprises. She is lonely, bitter, and incapable of sympathizing with those who work for her or owe her money. Not even her humble start in life or a serious medical condition that led to a heart transplant seven years ago have mellowed her ice-cold disposition. Then, one Christmas Eve, the ghost of the woman whose heart she inherited calls on Ellie to announce that she will be visited by three spirits. They will guide Ellie through important moments in her life to show her it’s not too late to change her ways. Ellie, who knows full well where this is going, braces herself for the inevitable affecting, tearful moments, but she is convinced that the evening will not end with a change of heart. Derr’s novel offers a fun premise that reframes Dickens’ A Christmas Carol as not only based on a true story, but also one that repeats every Christmas Eve when a chosen soul is given a chance at redemption. This holiday tale features a deftly deployed omniscient narrator: “If there was some parallel with her and A Christmas Carol, it seemed a foregone conclusion that she was the Scrooge role.” The story’s appeal lies in the familiar comfort readers often derive from similar tales told since Dickens’ classic was first published and from beloved holiday films like It’s a Wonderful Life. This particular version of Dickens’ work—much like the original—showcases redemption, generosity, charity, and the ills of workforce exploitation, but with a focus on the foster-care system as a force for good and on the principle of found families. And just like the original, Derr’s story bypasses any conversation about society’s systemic oppression with regard to poverty, exploring individual accountability and responsibility instead.
Fans of Dickens and It’s a Wonderful Life will find much to love here.Pub Date: July 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-578-92993-4
Page Count: 266
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property.
Since a reformed Grinch is hardly any fun, this follow-up Grinches him up once more.
Those seeking more of the same, prepare to receive precisely that. Christmas is coming (again!), and the Grinch can hardly wait. He’s been patient all year, and now he can finally show the Whos down in Who-ville how much he’s changed. When the Grinch learns of a tree-decorating contest, he figures that if he wins, it’ll prove he truly has the Christmas spirit. He throws himself into the task, but when it comes time to judge the trees, the Grinch is horrified to discover that he’s received only the second-place trophy. Can Cindy-Lou Who find the words to save the day? Replicating many of the original beats and wordplay of the original, this tale feels like less a sequel and more like a vaguely rewritten variation. Meanwhile, Ruiz’s art seeks to bridge the gap between the animated Chuck Jones version of the Grinch and the one depicted in the original book. This thankless task results in a strange uncanny valley between Seuss and Jones but does allow the artist a chance to colorize everything and lend some racial diversity to the Who population (Cindy-Lou is light-skinned). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780593563168
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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