A charming journey rich with Chinese folktales and imagery.
A sense of longing ignites a young Chinese girl’s fantastical journey.
Lili and her family, who live in a village by the sea, have finished observing the Lantern Festival, the last day of the Lunar New Year festivities, marked by riddles, food, and, of course, lanterns. Lili is exhausted. Yet the absence of her grandmother Lăolao (perhaps deceased, though this is never explicitly stated) lingers in her mind as she falls asleep. In her dream, brought to life by charmingly textured illustrations against a blue backdrop, she walks through her backyard to a stream, where a boat (with eyes and a mouth) is waiting for her. “Can you take me to my lăolao?” Lili asks. Although the boat doesn’t know where Lăolao is, it offers to take her to the Dragon King of the East Sea. The King welcomes her but doesn’t know where Lăolao is, either. He turns into his dragon form to take her to the Jade Emperor in his Celestial Palace. The Jade Emperor demands that she solve a riddle. Lili correctly answers it and is whisked away to a village crowded with festivities, where she and Lăolao, reunited, fill their quiet moments together with new memories. This tender tale of family bonding is followed by detailed backmatter, including an author’s note in which Zhang describes her relationship with her own grandmother, now deceased.
A charming journey rich with Chinese folktales and imagery. (descriptions of the Lantern Festival, information on Chinese mythological figures and symbols, craft activity) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780063217652
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
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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