A well-illustrated work with a wonderful moral about finding joy in accepting others.
A youngster founds a club that aims to include everyone in Loewen and Hayen’s picture book.
An unnamed girl invites some friends (and the reader) to join her Everybody Club. She gives them all a simple badge and encourages them to invite others. “Tell them all: / You’re a member. / It’s official. / The Everybody Club is beneficial!” There are images of a boy using a motorized wheelchair, several girls wearing headscarves, and another boy wearing a kufi cap. Multiple same-sex couples are shown, some with their kids. (The narrator is depicted as White, and other characters have a variety of skin tones.) The group gathers to build a float, which they enter in a parade. Finally, everyone in town joins the procession in a spread showcasing Zybina’s soft, warm, and appealing pastel illustrations. The story, based on a real club started by Hayen’s late daughter, presents rhymes that are simple, engaging, and fun—“A parade of everybodies! / A jolly jamboree! / The Everybody Club / turns THEY to WE”—and the overall message of how great it feels to be inclusive is sweet without ever feeling cloying.
A well-illustrated work with a wonderful moral about finding joy in accepting others.Pub Date: March 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73652-870-9
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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BOOK REVIEW
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