A holiday winner sure to be in demand come spooky season or Yuletide.
Halloween confections learn they’re not obsolete.
When fall’s over, the candy corns are relegated to the pantry along with the cranberry sauce and a jack-o’-lantern trick-or-treat bucket. The orange, yellow, and white candies feel unwanted. Unlike some foods, they don’t spoil or rot; they just sit around “feeling bored and kind of stale.” But a new holiday’s coming, and new smells are everywhere! Investigating, the corns discover exciting new trappings in their house: a giant decorated tree, wrapped gifts, hung stockings, and more! A sugarplum reveals all: “It’s Christmas!” The corns quickly horn in on the action, cavorting over the Yule log, diving into the egg nog, and leaving “sticky fingerprints on candlesticks and ornaments.” An angry candy cane demands that they skedaddle: “You had YOUR holiday. Now SCRAM!” They start to leave, but pale-skinned Santa’s arrival puts things into perspective. After nibbling a corn, the jolly old elf announces that the candies “fit right in!—and “Christmas is for EVERYONE!” Softening, Cane exhorts the corns to stay and acknowledges their similarities—they’re all striped, sweet, and sticky. This adorable holiday tale, told in well-executed, rollicking verse, delivers a fine message about Christmas inclusiveness, puts a new spin on the holiday season, and belongs on both post-Halloween and Christmas-book display shelves. The bustling, cheery illustrations feature characters bursting with personality and lots of dialogue set in speech balloons.
A holiday winner sure to be in demand come spooky season or Yuletide. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781665973663
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
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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