Despite the ho-hum story, the merry art will keep little readers engaged.
Mouse explores a house filled with Christmas spirit before helping himself to a little sweet treat that might have been intended for someone else.
In this tale that follows the format of “ ’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” Mouse notes seasonally significant changes around his house. There are new wreaths, a poinsettia, and a plate of delicious cookies, which Mouse samples before snuggling into a mitten to sleep. But Mouse realizes he may have bitten off more than he could chew when Santa bellows, “Who ate my treat?” While festive, the narrative is slight, more list than story, and the rhyme occasionally scans awkwardly. We get only a quick glimpse of Mouse’s tail early on and no actual mouse sightings until near the end, which may be confusing for younger listeners. If the story is a bit lackluster, the art is anything but. In quintessentially Ehlert style, elaborately edged collages, uniquely shaped pages, and intricate die-cuts burst with yuletide cheer. A sharply crimped Christmas tree adorned with shiny foil decorations is perfect for the holiday season, while a bold and dynamically cut snowflake is a visual and tactile delight. At times, the graphic collages bolster each other so that a gently rounded snowman looking at a smiling crescent moon creates a layered, three-dimensional feel.
Despite the ho-hum story, the merry art will keep little readers engaged. (Picture book. 2-8)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781534401723
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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
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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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