On Christmas Eve, the one night of the year that all the animals can gather together without fear, the creatures of the north woods await the arrival of Bear Noel. The cumulative tale begins with this singular figure, dressed in shearling and burdened under a huge, heavy brown sack journeying through the “deep white drifts” to bring Christmas to all the animals. First to notice is Hare, who whispers, “ ‘He is coming.’ ” “ ‘Who is coming?’ Wolf asks. ‘Bear Noel!’ Hare cries.” “In the distance they hear the thump of heavy footfalls in the forest.” Then Fox, Boar, Hedgehog, Owl, Mole, and Possum assemble to the repetitive refrain, “He is singing. . . . He is laughing. . . . He is jingling his bells. . . . He is coming.” Dunrea (The Boy Who Loved to Draw, 1999, etc.) moves from his signature folk-art technique to a more realistic style appropriate to the shimmering quality of the story. Using a wide canvas of double-paged spreads, he creates a high horizon by leaving spacious swathes of rough watercolor paper empty of paint, depicting the deep snow on the forest floor. The evening sky is radiantly accomplished in rich shades of navy; woods of dark green firs and gray birches provide an exquisite backdrop for a winter snowfall created by spattering tiny drops of white gouache. The forest animals are each lovingly and realistically portrayed. The attention to detail is remarkable, from the tiny hairs on Bear Noel’s ears to the bark of birch trees. In the end, his work completed, Bear Noel turns his back to the reader and climbs a hill. He stands in the distance, dwarfed by enormous boulders and leaves only his paw prints in the snow. Satisfying to the last wordless page. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2000
ISBN: 0-374-39990-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000
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
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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