Laid-back feline Yuletide antics.
One not-so-silent night, three neighborhood cats have a mellow Christmastime adventure.
It’s “moontime,” and besties Carl, Biscuit, and Peewee are “ready to make some merry mischief.” They know it’s a special night because “the neighborhood is brighter than usual” (it’s aglow with holiday lights), although two of the decorative blue lights strung on a fence are “not what they seem” (attentive readers will spy the blue eyes of a strange feline). As the trio embark on a journey, they tussle in the snow, squabble about who will lead, and so on, until they end up at “the hideout of a sneaky thief with a stash of loot”—a mouse in a Santa hat who’s purloined some trinkets from humans. Will the three friends manage to return one of the stolen objects—a star-shaped Christmas tree topper—to its rightful spot? And will the blue-eyed cat who’s been trailing the trio finally get some love? In his latest picture-book collaboration with Morris, Mylie uses colored pencils and watercolors to create luminous black-backgrounded compositions that call to mind “black magic” crayon art—an impression perfectly age-aligned with the book’s plentiful onomatopoeia and early-reader-level text, which rhymes when it feels like it. While the story doesn’t oversell the Christmas spirit, a concluding act of kitty kindness is sweet enough to melt snow.
Laid-back feline Yuletide antics. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781536239669
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
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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