A lovable iguana reminds us to be ourselves—a lesson that readers young and old can embrace.
Will Iguana’s plan be a splash or a flop?
While getting settled in his new house, Iguana receives an invitation to Cheetah’s pool party. He is worried. Cheetahs are fast. Cheetahs are amazing. Surely all the other guests will be amazing, too. Iguana makes a checklist that shows he’s green, sun-loving, and, well, green. Nothing amazing there. Iguana decides not to go, but he later sees a sign for a shop called Dragon Donuts, and inspiration hits. Dragons are amazing—they can fly, they have magical horns, and they shoot fire. After many hilarious costume changes at a thrift store, Iguana transforms into a dragon, with party hats for horns and a pair of purple kites for wings. But something is missing. Fire! Iguana chows down on several dishes spicy enough to make his eyes pop. The pressure builds, and Iguana is finally rewarded with a humongous fiery burp that turns him bright red and launches him into the air and, eventually, right into Cheetah’s pool during the party. Iguana’s rocket-fast swim to cool off impresses Cheetah and the guests—and he realizes that he is rather amazing just the way he is. Frost’s cartoonish art is simple yet endearing, filled with bright, saturated colors. The story is loaded with humor and offers a strong yet never heavy-handed message. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A lovable iguana reminds us to be ourselves—a lesson that readers young and old can embrace. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0653-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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