Worth a look for penguin fans.
It’s a penguin family reunion in Antarctica for Crystal’s birthday.
Little blue penguin Periwinkle, who lives in Australia, gets an invite to her cousin’s birthday. Periwinkle is worried that she is the only blue penguin and the smallest (by species, they are the smallest), but Mama counsels that it’s the insides that matter. Next she and her platypus buddy learn from wise koala Mr. Wendell where Antarctica is (and that there are no polar bears there). Perwinkle’s set to go. Albert Albatross straps on a passenger platform and flies Periwinkle and New Zealand cousin Rocky Rockhopper to South Africa to pick up Cappy. Albert can’t carry all of them, so they catch rides on humpback whales heading to meet the rest of the family in the snow. After much penguin frolicking on the ice and in the water, Periwinkle loses the gift that she brought but finds the inner strength to give Crystal a special, personal gift. Petersen-Fleming’s slim story functions as a vehicle for facts and a moral of individual specialness. Spafford’s signature illustrations from her line of cards, books, and (soon) television show can be a bit twee with all those very joyous penguins. But for those young naturalists who are interested in penguins as more than funny, flightless fowl, Periwinkle’s tale with penguin facts and maps on the endpapers is a good start.
Worth a look for penguin fans. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-943198-03-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Blue Sneaker/Southwestern
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
A forgettable effort that fails to capture any of the magical charm of Santa’s story. (Picture book. 3-6)
Wallace and Elkerton continue their series about catching elusive mythical creatures (How to Catch a Leprechaun, 2016, etc.) with this Christmas story about an elf who must avoid traps constructed by children before Santa’s annual visit.
The unnamed elf narrator is the sole helper traveling with Santa on his delivery rounds on Christmas Eve, with each house featuring a different type of trap for elves. The spunky elf avoids a mechanical “elf snatcher,” hidden in a plate of cookies, as well as simple traps made of tinsel, double-sided tape, and a cardboard box concealing a mean-looking cat. Another trap looks like a bomb hidden in a box of candy, and a complicated trap in a maze has an evil cowboy clown with a branding iron, leading to the elf’s cry, “Hey, you zapped my tushy!” The bomb trap and the branding iron seem to push the envelope of child-made inventions. The final trap is located in a family grocery store that’s booby-trapped with a “Dinner Cannon” shooting out food, including a final pizza that the elf and Santa share. The singsong, rhyming text has a forced cheeriness, full of golly-jolly-holly Christmas spirit and too many exclamation marks, as well as rhyming word pairs that miss the mark. (No, little elf-boy, “smarter” and “harder” do not rhyme.) Bold, busy illustrations in a cartoon style have a cheeky appeal with a focus on the freckle-faced white elf with auburn curls and a costume with a retro vibe. (Santa is also white.)
A forgettable effort that fails to capture any of the magical charm of Santa’s story. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4631-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Cookie-cutter predictability.
After all the daring escapes in the How To Catch… series, will the kids be able to catch Santa?
Oddly, previous installments saw the children trying (and failing) to catch an elf and a reindeer, but both are easily captured in this story. Santa, however, is slippery. Tempted but not fooled by poinsettias, a good book (attached to a slingshot armed with a teddy bear projectile), and, of course, milk and cookies, Santa foils every plan. The hero in a red suit has a job to do. Presents must be placed, and lists must be checked. He has no time for traps and foolery (except if you’re the elf, who falls for every one of them). Luckily, Santa helps the little rascal escape each time. Little is new here—the kids resort to similar snares found in previous works: netting, lures, and technological wonders such as the Santa Catcher 5000. Although the rhythm falters quite a bit (“How did we get out you ask? / It looked like we were done for. / Santa’s magic is very real, / and I cannot reveal more”), fans of the series may not mind. Santa and Christmas just might be enough to overcome the flaws. Santa and the elf are light-skinned, one of the children is brown-skinned, and the other presents as Asian. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cookie-cutter predictability. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728274270
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
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BOOK REVIEW
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