A quiet, deeply satisfying celebration of the turn of the year and the joy of community.
A young woman harnesses two Percheron horses for a magical sleigh ride on New Year’s Eve.
Archer’s signature scenes set the mood with snowy fields dotted with groupings of trees; an illustration of one of the trees features graceful limbs encircled with collaged images of music notes. Readers follow sheep and Jenny into the barn at dusk as she leads the strong, black horses to the sleigh, attaches bells to their bridles, and turns on the lights outlining four rows of seats. MacLachlan, deftly crafting her narrative with a minimum of well-chosen words, provides the sensory details. Text is presented in blocks of free verse: “The breaths of Tim and / Tom make silver clouds. / The sleigh makes a / whisper sound in the / snow—a comforting / swish, swish, swish.” En route, the vehicle gathers children, some of whom trumpet their excitement from a front porch before hopping aboard. When their turn is over, the elders get a ride, laughing and talking, remembering their own childhood snow play, presented in a sequence of vignettes. Changes in light and perspective maintain interest, as do the patterns of the snowflakes and the starbursts glowing from streetlamps. The warm palette and bold designs of the papers used to depict fabric and floor planks contrast beautifully with the smooth coolness of the wintry landscape. Jenny is brown-skinned; the other characters are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A quiet, deeply satisfying celebration of the turn of the year and the joy of community. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-7355-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
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
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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