Raucous holiday fun for dino geeks.
Miles is so wild about dinosaurs that he even incorporates them into the Hanukkah festivities.
Decked out in his new dino costume, Miles celebrates each holiday night by creatively renaming his favorite species. On the first night, he declares himself a “HANUKKAHsaur.” The next night, noticing his mother preparing potato pancakes, he wonders if she could use some help from a “VeLATKEraptor.” And the following evening, at his friend’s Dreidel Spin-Off, he asks, “Can the TriceraTOPS spin the biggest dreidel?” Unfortunately, as large lumbering creatures are wont to do, Miles inadvertently creates plenty of chaos, splattering messy jelly from the sufganiyot that his Safta (Grandmother) made and breaking the candles for the last night’s menorah lighting. But Miles cleans up each catastrophe (with a cheery “Dinos can do it”), and on the last night, he and his friends enjoy a “raptor ROMP” that’s so noisy, it leaves his tuckered-out parents slumbering away on the couch. Zohar’s energetic, cartoony illustrations are filled with details and onomatopoeia. Some adults may groan at the puns, but Gruer’s exuberant wordplay should tickle most youngsters. A challenge in the backmatter (which includes a glossary and info on Miles’ favorite dinos, real and imagined) will send readers back to identify the dinosaur figurines scattered throughout. Miles, his father, and his grandmother are brown-skinned, while his mother is pale-skinned; his friends are diverse.
Raucous holiday fun for dino geeks. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9781962011198
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Kalaniot Books
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
