Another variation on the gifts for the Christ Child theme is the focus of this delightful tale starring the Russian grandmother character of Babushka. The amusing and well-written story features a humorous Babushka who is the epitome of cleanliness. (She tells the passing wise men they must take off their boots before coming into her tidy house.) Babushka breaks away from her cleaning to carry three gifts to the Holy Family: a toy clown and a shawl for the baby and a bottle of ginger cordial to warm the grown-ups. Along her journey, she gives away each gift to someone in need, and almost turns away from the manger scene, but Mary warmly welcomes her into the stable anyway. There Babushka sees that the others have brought along all of her gifts and they are already in use. Mary reassuringly says, “Everything you gave with love, you gave to my son, also.” Tempted to clean the cobwebs in the stable, Babushka forgets those plans in order to rock the baby to sleep as hovering angels sing of peace. Enchanting acrylic paintings employ a stylized, folk-art style using flattened, distorted perspectives, jewel-bright tones, and characters that look like carved Russian dolls. This original gem of a story creates its own satisfying glow with polished tones in both words and art. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 1-84148-353-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
Engelbreit creates an alphabetically organized world of cheerful, civilized mice that live in snug homes in a snowy village in the forest. Each page begins with the featured letter (“D is for dollhouses”) followed by short verse preparations set in large, hand-lettered type in festive gold. The initial capital letters in bright red with white polka dots are ornamented with tiny mouse elves using items that begin with the featured letter. The accompanying illustrations in Engelbreit’s distinctive style focus on a mouse family with three children and a pet ladybug. The happy family keeps busy with every sort of Christmas activity: decorating their cozy home, cooking special treats and welcoming visiting family members. The mice also enjoy wintry outdoor activities such as sledding and skating with other forest animals. Several illustrations show a mouse Santa and his elves busily getting ready for the holiday in their workshop built into a tree stump. Though this effort doesn’t break any new ground, Engelbreit’s many fans will enjoy her cozy interpretation of a traditional Christmas season with all the trimmings. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074158-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Kasparavicius (The Little Match Girl, not reviewed, etc.) introduces a large family of bears who decide to take a world tour to celebrate Christmas. They attach their entire house to a huge hot-air balloon, and with the musical accompaniment of a band of angel bears, they float off to visit polar bears in the far north, spectacled bears in Peru, koalas in Australia, sun bears in Sri Lanka, pandas in China, and a concluding holiday visit to their relatives, Mr. and Mrs. Teddy and their children. Together the extended family celebrates with a visit from Santa Bear, who arrives with his pack full of live teddy bears for gifts. The visits to the various countries impart some cultural information into the illustrations, such as bamboo used for construction of the panda houses and a weaving loom used by the bears in Peru, but the world tour is mainly part of an imaginative story and a vehicle for the detailed paintings by Kasparavicius, and not a significant source for learning about other cultures. One might point out that both koalas are not really bears and pandas are questionable in that classification, but then those cute characters might have had to be left out of the story. All the bears have perfect posture, and in fact the illustrator’s style has a strong vertical orientation, with an old-fashioned, folk-art feeling and a posed quality to the bears as though they were all standing very still for the artist to get them just right. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-8109-0573-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
