A warmhearted tale that distills Yuletide to an essential element: family closeness.
Young Oakley and the animals who live on her ranch eagerly anticipate Christmas.
Rosie the Clydesdale dreams of pink fairies; Pete the dog’s head is filled with “visions of dog bones”; cranky Thumbs the cat bats at a jingle bell. Blond-haired, pale-skinned Oakley, in chaps, boots, and cowboy hat, hopes for a white Christmas; in Texas that’s a distant dream. Nevertheless, a snowstorm does ensue! But with the power out, the family can’t make cookies, and the roads are too icy for the trucks to deliver a tree—or for Oakley’s grandparents to visit. (Be careful what you wish for.) Mama reminds Oakley that “Christmas comes because it’s in your heart.” Still saddened, Oakley makes do, improvising pet sweaters for Pete and Thumbs, and as they go out to water the cows, Rosie joins them and points out a cedar tree—“better than nothing,” as Daddy comments. Everyone gathers by the wood stove in the barn, and Oakley and her family make ornaments out of salt dough. Intrepid Rosie slips out, braves the storm, and ferries the grandparents home. At last, it truly feels like Christmas. Cheerful, colorful, cartoon-realistic pictures add a few elements not mentioned in the text, like a sibling for Oakley. Even the perennially prickly puss seems to smile as a potential wintry disaster ends in a happy revelation, affirming that Christmas is truly about the people—and animals—we love.
A warmhearted tale that distills Yuletide to an essential element: family closeness. (author note’s, salt-dough ornament recipe) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9780310176282
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 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
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