On Christmas Eve, Grandpa's three-legged dog, Mr. Biggins, wanders off to chase deer on the wooded mountainside near Grandpa's cabin. Lizzie's worried; she and her grandfather decide to find the dog. Donning winter coats and snowshoes, they begin their upward hike. They hunt all day, but Mr. Biggins never shows up. As night approaches, they make a fire, cook supper, and build an igloo to keep them warm through the night. In the middle of the night, Lizzie dreamily sees Santa flying overhead, above the igloo's air hole. The next morningChristmasbig, wet dog kisses wake Lizzie up. Mr. Biggins is back, and Grandpa, who's cooking bacon over the fire, has made Lizzie a present that helps the two of them return to his cabin in record speed. Without lapsing into nostalgia, this refreshing tale offers readers a breather from the barrage of holiday commercialism. Nature, homemade gifts, and loved ones are the elements that make yuletide joy here. Kiesler's paintings, evocatively blurred by the sifting of ever-present snowflakes, capture the essence of the natural magic of this outdoor Christmas Eve. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 21, 1995
ISBN: 0-395-69626-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
The text in Garland’s book has little merit, and appears mostly as an excuse for the digital artwork. The night before Christmas, Tingle, a diligent elf in Santa’s workshop, falls asleep in the cockpit of a toy plane he has been working on. When the plane is wrapped, so is he, and the package is tucked into Santa’s sleigh and delivered to Joey for Christmas. Tingle gets homesick, flies the plane homeward, runs out of power, and hitches a ride with a polar bear. Garland makes no effort to endow his principals with any personality or presence; the artwork suffers from a grating juxtaposition of hyperrealism and smoky, blurred imagery. The proportions and depths of field are discomfittingly exaggerated, except for a scene in which the northern lights are on display above Santa’s workshop—there the otherworldliness perfectly matches the event. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-525-46212-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1999
When 18 pumpkins go missing from Patsy Pig’s Pleasant Valley Pumpkin Patch, it is up to detectives Miss Maple, Shamrock Homes, Sam Slade, and Chief Inspector Albert—a pig, a monkey, a raccoon, and a duck, respectively—to find the wayward squash, in this entertaining mystery from Tryon (Albert’s Ballgame, 1996, etc.). A note at the scene of the crime sends the good guys on a nocturnal treasure hunt, to the library, the playground, a lightning-blasted tree, and a ratty custodian’s storeroom; every time they find a pumpkin and a note. On each of the notes a couple of words or numbers are outlined, as if they were pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When the puzzle pieces are assembled by the detectives, readers (who don’t have to carve up their copies to get the final clue) are led back through the book to find all the pumpkins—in plain sight, but cunningly absorbed into the background. The story itself is forgettable, but who can pass up a treasure hunt? Few readers will. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81136-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
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