This unusual if culturally hegemonic Christmas story will appeal to kids interested in ninjas and samurais and, of course,...
A mischievous little ninja scares Santa away and then receives an unexpected gift in the form of a huge snowball fight.
The young ninja, Yukio, wants to stage a snowball battle on Christmas Eve, but all the other ninjas are staying home and behaving so they will receive their presents from Santa. Yukio doesn’t care about presents, so he uses ninja tactics to sneak up on Santa and startle him by ringing a huge, noisy gong and rallying the other ninjas to scare away the intruder. When a mysterious samurai arrives with an army of snowmen, all the little ninjas do battle with the snowmen in an “epic snowball fight,” just as Yukio had wanted, though the samurai disappears. On Christmas morning Yukio is worried that he has ruined Christmas for all the other ninjas, but everyone gets Christmas gifts from Santa. Yukio receives a snowman’s hat and carrot nose and a letter from Samurai Santa indicating that the snowman battle was his special gift. Computer-generated illustrations use a limited palette of black, red, white, and soft gray, with the text set in a casual, modern typeface. A large format with landscape orientation provides plenty of room for the ninja-snowman battle scenes and the resolution on Christmas morning. The text never addresses the question of how these feudal Japanese assassins came to believe in Santa in the first place.
This unusual if culturally hegemonic Christmas story will appeal to kids interested in ninjas and samurais and, of course, to any kids who like an epic snowball fight. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3057-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned.
All the reasons why a daughter needs a mother.
Each spread features an adorable cartoon animal parent-child pair on the recto opposite a rhyming verse: “I’ll always support you in giving your all / in every endeavor, the big and the small, / and be there to catch you in case you should fall. / I hope you believe this is true.” A virtually identical book, Why a Daughter Needs a Dad, publishes simultaneously. Both address standing up for yourself and your values, laughing to ease troubles, being thankful, valuing friendship, persevering and dreaming big, being truthful, thinking through decisions, and being open to differences, among other topics. Though the sentiments/life lessons here and in the companion title are heartfelt and important, there are much better ways to deliver them. These books are likely to go right over children’s heads and developmental levels (especially with the rather advanced vocabulary); their parents are the more likely audience, and for them, the books provide some coaching in what kids need to hear. The two books are largely interchangeable, especially since there are so few references to mom or dad, but one spread in each book reverts to stereotype: Dad balances the two-wheeler, and mom helps with clothing and hair styles. Since the books are separate, it aids in customization for many families.
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned. (Picture book. 4-8, adult)Pub Date: May 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6781-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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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