Just lovely.
A little bird gets ready for something big.
Something is different today—Sparrow can feel it in the fullness of her belly. She flies around Jerusalem, looking for something special to bring back to her home, a nest in a crack in the Western Wall. She sees the usual—people praying, bread and fruit stands, a ritual handwashing station—but none offers the special object she is seeking. Finally, Sparrow finds pieces of paper with prayers written on them, tucked into the wall’s crevices by its human visitors, and takes some to soften her nest in anticipation of the special event: laying an egg “so warm, so big, she can hardly believe she had carried it inside for so long.” The poignance of this story will likely be apparent to adult readers, particularly those who recognize the inclusion of holy sites significant not only to Judaism but also to Christianity and Islam (among them the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Rock). Children may not fully understand the book’s metaphor: a new life representing hope (sparrow sounds like spero, which means “I hope” in Latin) in a place associated with religious tumult and conflict. Still, Tebo’s writing flows beautifully, pairing seamlessly with Lewis’ exceptionally gorgeous, impressionistic watercolors, making this book a strong choice for reading aloud. Backmatter provides context for some of the places seen in the book, as well as for the tradition of stuffing prayers and wishes into the Western Wall’s cracks.
Just lovely. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2025
ISBN: 9781635926880
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Astra Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2026
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
BOOK REVIEW
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