A well-crafted, immersive, interactive tale for children.
In this installment of the Dance-It-Out! series, Herbert intertwines a story of a helpful firefly with dance movements in a delightful tale for children.
The Silver Birch Forest animals begin gathering to celebrate the solstice. The highlight of the celebration is the “Firework Fliers, a squad of one hundred fireflies who would light up the sky in a dazzling, darting, dizzying kaleidoscope”; the grand finale determines who best captures the spirit of the season. Fenix, a firefly with short wings, dreams of being a Firework Flier, but realizes that is unlikely. His best friend, Bolt, is a Firework Flier, and Fenix is ready to cheer him on. Unfortunately, Bolt drinks too much nectar and gets a bellyache. Fenix decides to step in so the show won’t be spoiled. As Fenix climbs the tree to shine at the top, he encounters a bullfrog, a spider, and an owl, all offering to help Fenix—but they really want to help themselves to a firefly snack. He eludes them, and, with the Firework Fliers, he helps to create glowing animal shapes to enchant the forest animals, including snakes, rabbits, and, finally, fireflies, with Fenix shining brightly at the top. “Everyone agreed fireflies were the perfect Spirit of the Season.” The book, a creative blend of narrative and interactive participation, encourages children to act out the tale—each portion of the story is accompanied by dance movements, with descriptions and photographs of a ballerina executing each element of the choreography. The movements involve all parts of the body, with instructions such as “flap your raven wings in the breeze” and “swish and sway like a fish.” Partridge’s illustrations, in soft, glowing colors, enrich the story beautifully, and the text is rich with imagery (“The sun had cast long shadows across the field”). A lovely message is conveyed to readers: Everyone is important, and each of us, no matter how small, can play a key part in the things we do.
A well-crafted, immersive, interactive tale for children.Pub Date: March 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781955555821
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Once Upon A Dance
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 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
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