The teacher-friendly theme of cooperation and emotive characters suggest a good fit for all settings.
When Holiday, a triangular blue chap in a party hat, arrives, ready to take Monday’s place, the seven days react.
Yellow, square Monday, accustomed to kicking off each week, is firm: “While I do appreciate your offer, the other days and I have everything under control.” As Holiday unpacks anyway, peacemaker Tuesday demurs: “this Holiday seems kind of fun. Perhaps we could just see what happens….” Sociable Thursday introduces Holiday to the others, enthusiastically touting Friday’s weekly party. Saturday and Sunday, who “usually sleep all week,” show up in bedroom slippers. While Monday remains dismayed, the others marvel at celebratory cake and balloons. When Holiday announces he’d like to stay longer by usurping additional days’ spots, though, there’s new pushback from Wednesday and Friday. Regretting the conflict, Holiday contritely vows to leave. Tuesday offers a nifty compromise: Could Holiday return in a month or so? Even Monday sees the appeal of an occasional break. All ends well, with a nap for Monday through Sunday. Nelson’s digital collages use simple shapes, generalized facial features, and accessories for the armless, apparently arbitrarily shaped characters. Text is delivered mainly in dialogue bubbles. While the mini-drama nicely anchors the story, there’s no apparent significance to Holiday’s visit beyond a routine-disrupting excuse for a party.
(This book releases first as a digital edition, with print release currently scheduled for Aug. 4, 2020.)
The teacher-friendly theme of cooperation and emotive characters suggest a good fit for all settings. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77306-200-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings.
The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry.
Daywalt’s expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, “What am I going to wear?” surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef’s toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who’s missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: “I wonder if we’re related!” White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page’s copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody’s excited about art class—“Even if they make a mess. Actually…ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!” Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9780593621110
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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