The best answer yet to that perennial question: what do Santa’s reindeer do during the off season? As her seven antlered uncles arrive, young Octavia counts them off: Uncle Uno’s a skier: “He has one hat. / He has one vest. He wears one stopwatch on his chest.” Uncle Duce’s an Elvis impersonator with two wigs, two boots, etc.; Uncle Trey’s a diver, and so on—but all gather once a year to set up the tree, get the gifts wrapped, and to confirm that she’s their favorite niece. Floca illustrates their arrival in simply drawn, splashy watercolors featuring cheery, pop-eyed figures sporting a variety of costumes and head-racks. Once the clan has gathered, and Santa steps on stage to take a bow, “We change our clothes. / We hitch the sleigh. / We’re ready now. . . . / We’re on our way!” Who wouldn’t want to ride along? (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-86469-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Richard Jackson/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2004
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches...
Listeners will quickly take up the percussive chorus—“Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the Trashy town! Is the trash truck full yet? NO”—as they follow burly Mr. Gilly, the garbage collector, on his rounds from park to pizza parlor and beyond.
Flinging cans and baskets around with ease, Mr. Gilly dances happily through streetscapes depicted with loud colors and large, blocky shapes; after a climactic visit to the dump, he roars home for a sudsy bath.
Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches Eve Merriam’s Bam Bam Bam (1995), also illustrated by Yaccarino, for sheer verbal and visual volume. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: April 30, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-027139-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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