A little confusing, this cozy Christmas tale emphasizes creative gift-giving.
Forest creatures team up with an elf to make a present for the most generous person they know in this Christmas-themed picture book.
Bear, Fox, Penguin, Owl, and Reindeer find an ideal tree to display at the holiday market, inspiring them to get a gift for “our friend who believes that great joy comes from giving!” Though they search the market, they can’t find quite the right thing, so Penguin suggests they make something together. Each of the animals gathers materials, but they’re not sure how to put their individual pieces together until they recruit an elf at the holiday market to help with their plan. With some blown glass, the friends fashion a snow globe and a photo to collectively create the perfect present. Lockwood’s spare text relies on Golub’s painterly illustrations to tell the story. For example, Santa is never directly mentioned—but of course, young readers will realize early on who the animals want to surprise. Other details, like why the friends begin by harvesting a tree or where the story takes place, are all left for readers to interpret from the images. Golub uses textured brush strokes to create a sense of depth in her images and gives the human faces a more concrete realism than the animals. Maps on the beginning and endpapers show where all the animals live, and a well-described snow-globe craft offers readers a chance to make their own gifts.
A little confusing, this cozy Christmas tale emphasizes creative gift-giving.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781964836225
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Acorn Cottage Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 29, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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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
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