A generous act in a time of need is the highlight of this unforced Hanukkah/Christmas tale from Polacco (Babushka's Mother Goose, 1995, etc.). The narrator recalls the bustle of her family's Michigan farmhouse years ago as Hanukkah approached, with women and children clustering in the kitchen and Grampa, in his workshop, busily carving and painting small animals as gifts. Their non-Jewish neighbors celebrate a different December holiday with different customs but the same spirit—until one year when all are bedridden with scarlet fever. It seems only right to make a Christmas tree for each—but what can they use for decorations? Grampa's animals, of course. Polacco's familiar medley of bright striped and floral print clothing surrounding friendly pink faces creates a perfect visual counterpart to her well-told, sentimental story. Make sure readers have their hankies ready. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-689-80862-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1996
Wells spins out an original tale loosely based on local legends from a small town in southern France. Caught by a sudden tide, two young friends, both named “Marie,” ascend to heaven, where one convinces God to allow them to return to Earth for a time to care for neighbors and loved ones. Rowing upon clouds in their small boat, the two cure one sick child, help rescue another from a well, calm a team of horses and other small good deeds—all of which are actually recorded in paintings in the town’s church. Bright smiles on their delicately drawn features, the two Maries float through rustic scenes of pink flamingoes and peach trees in blossom, of rainbows and fields of lavender—all of which is based on Mathers’s visit to the area. Narrated in a distinct, cheery voice by one Marie, this is a much simplified version of the traditional story (for one thing, there are three Maries associated with the locale), but its sweetness will draw young readers, particularly fans of Tomie dePaola’s retold saints’ legends. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05960-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2006
Another folksy take on the Biblical creation story from the publishers of Phyllis Root’s Big Momma Makes the World (2003, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury). Here, Wood casts Mr. and Mrs. God as cooks with clashing styles; having made a massive sun, Mr. God enthusiastically assembles roaring monsters to populate Mrs. God’s cool, smaller Earth. “They’re hideous,” she complains. “What were you thinking?” Mr. God obligingly blasts them out of existence, but then miffs Mrs. God again by creating a pelican (“Look at that beak!”) that scoops up her colorful, just-decanted rainbow of fish. Opening with an empyrean kitchen full of pots bobbing around an oven “big enough to roast a star,” and closing with two bare, decidedly Neanderthal-ish people rising up from a cookie sheet, Ering’s full-bleed, broadly brushed scenes feature a pair of gnomish elders floating in space amidst kitchenware and bowls of animal parts. Not exactly canonical, but a lighthearted way to get young readers thinking about creation through collaborative effort. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-1258-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2006
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