A creative, poetic spin on Santa Claus mythology.
Dolphins save Christmas in this story of substitute sleigh-pullers by author Brougher and illustrator Santa Cruz (The Arizona Book, 2019, etc.).
Santa’s reindeer are too sick to fly his sleigh, and he’s worried. Luckily, a quick-thinking elf suggests that reindeer aren’t the only animals that Santa could teach to fly. Soon, he’s vetting animal applicants from all over the world. But each has problems: The elephants are too heavy to land on roofs, bunnies multiply, pigs eat up all the cookies, cats take naps, and monkeys and gorillas want health insurance, bananas, and “a treehouse with a pool and a cabana” as compensation. Santa’s on the verge of canceling his Christmas voyage when the shrewd elf points out that dolphins never applied—and, fortunately, the sea creatures come to the rescue. Brougher’s rhymes flow steadily, highlighting different animal characteristics and introducing young readers to a few challenging vocabulary words along the way (“donned,” “procedures”). Many of Santa Cruz’s full-color, photo-based illustrations of animals will appeal to kids, and the elves, which are portrayed by children in costume, are shown to be diverse. Some of the images seem more like clip art than original photography, but Brougher’s rhymes carry the story.
A creative, poetic spin on Santa Claus mythology.Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9977959-0-5
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Missing Piece Press, LLC
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Utterly enchanting nonsense tale, which children and grown-ups will equally claim. Particularly fishermen, of any age. A small boy drops a fishing line in a farmer's pool and ignores the farmer's scornful comment on the kinds of things he will find in the pool. His imagination plays, instead, with the kinds of things the pool might provide — and the pictures are wonderful,- superb drawing, beautiful color, lots of humor in double page spreads throughout.
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 1947
ISBN: 0394800834
Page Count: 62
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1947
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A rollicking tale of rivalry.
Sweet Street had just one baker, Monsieur Oliphant, until two new confectionists move in, bringing a sugar rush of competition and customers.
First comes “Cookie Concocter par excellence” Mademoiselle Fee and then a pie maker, who opens “the divine Patisserie Clotilde!” With each new arrival to Sweet Street, rivalries mount and lines of hungry treat lovers lengthen. Children will delight in thinking about an abundance of gingerbread cookies, teetering, towering cakes, and blackbird pies. Wonderfully eccentric line-and-watercolor illustrations (with whites and marbled pastels like frosting) appeal too. Fine linework lends specificity to an off-kilter world in which buildings tilt at wacky angles and odd-looking (exclusively pale) people walk about, their pantaloons, ruffles, long torsos, and twiglike arms, legs, and fingers distinguishing them as wonderfully idiosyncratic. Rotund Monsieur Oliphant’s periwinkle complexion, flapping ears, and elongated nose make him look remarkably like an elephant while the women confectionists appear clownlike, with exaggerated lips, extravagantly lashed eyes, and voluminous clothes. French idioms surface intermittently, adding a certain je ne sais quoi. Embedded rhymes contribute to a bouncing, playful narrative too: “He layered them and cherried them and married people on them.” Tension builds as the cul de sac grows more congested with sweet-makers, competition, frustration, and customers. When the inevitable, fantastically messy food fight occurs, an observant child finds a sweet solution amid the delicious detritus.
A rollicking tale of rivalry. (Picture book. 4-8 )Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-101-91885-2
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
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