How do angels celebrate Christmas Eve? Using a spare rhyming text, Stone (When the Wind Bears Go Dancing, 1997) offers a glimpse of the feasting, dancing, and singing of the heavenly host as they gather with animals and children to share the joy of the season. Vibrant spreads offer a feast of folk-art illustrations steeped in gorgeous shades of red, green, and blue. Enchanting images’stitching the world a quilt of snow, trimming the tree with clouds, mist, and moon—emphasize the celestial qualities of this magical holiday picture book. Stone weaves a generous spell; it will be hard for children not to smile along with the final, glorious spreads. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-316-81439-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard.
A grouchy sapling on a Christmas tree farm finds that there are better things than lights and decorations for its branches.
A Grinch among the other trees on the farm is determined never to become a sappy Christmas tree—and never to leave its spot. Its determination makes it so: It grows gnarled and twisted and needle-less. As time passes, the farm is swallowed by the suburbs. The neighborhood kids dare one another to climb the scary, grumpy-looking tree, and soon, they are using its branches for their imaginative play, the tree serving as a pirate ship, a fort, a spaceship, and a dragon. But in winter, the tree stands alone and feels bereft and lonely for the first time ever, and it can’t look away from the decorated tree inside the house next to its lot. When some parents threaten to cut the “horrible” tree down, the tree thinks, “Not now that my limbs are full of happy children,” showing how far it has come. Happily for the tree, the children won’t give up so easily, and though the tree never wished to become a Christmas tree, it’s perfectly content being a “trick or tree.” Martinez’s digital illustrations play up the humorous dichotomy between the happy, aspiring Christmas trees (and their shoppers) and the grumpy tree, and the diverse humans are satisfyingly expressive.
Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-7335-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A rousing tale worth sneaking into youngsters’ Easter baskets.
It’s nearly time for the Easter egg hunt…but where’s the guest of honor?
The minutes are ticking away, but the eggs haven’t been hidden, and the Easter Bunny (described with they/them pronouns) is lost! Five children, who vary in skin tone, decide to shepherd the bunny to the city park where the hunt is being held, but they face delays at each turn. Knowing that grown-ups will “fuss and hover” if they notice the Easter Bunny, they disguise the rabbit as a street musician, but a crowd gathers to listen. A wagon, a bonnet, and a pacifier transform the bunny into the cutest baby ever, but they swiftly draw a horde of admirers. Later, a minimally disguised Easter Bunny joins a random throng of turkeys in the park—a shoutout to the creators’ Turkeys in Disguise (2025)—and somehow avoids detection. Eventually, all the eggs are hidden, and the Easter Bunny hops away. Realizing that they’ve missed the egg hunt amid the chaos, the children are dismayed―until they discover the perfect treats that the rabbit has hidden just for them. Cleland’s vibrant digital cartoon illustrations have a scribbly, childlike feel as they depict the fun-loving kids cooperating and actively problem-solving; readers will enjoy searching for the eggs and the sometimes hidden Easter Bunny. Platt’s jaunty, action-packed rhyme includes vocabulary to engage older listeners as well.
A rousing tale worth sneaking into youngsters’ Easter baskets. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780063483033
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
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