A quiet, loving introduction to a key Jewish holiday.
After things go awry for a family preparing for Sukkot, neighbors come together to help them regroup.
As the family builds their sukkah in the backyard, a child excitedly describes how they will use the small hut during this Jewish harvest holiday: eating meals, sleeping there and counting the stars, and adjusting to shifts in weather. Then a blast of wind scatters the greenery and decorations across the neighborhood. The child is sad until a diverse group of neighbors helps the family gather the pieces and rebuild. They all share a meal in a “warm and welcoming sukkah…that’s big enough for everyone to share.” Ludwig’s spare text, written in first person plural narrated by the family’s older child, leaves the heavy lifting to Guy’s illustrations, which depict the steps of building a sukkah: constructing a wooden frame, attaching canvas walls, adding s’chach (covering for the roof, usually made from twigs or branches), and hanging paper decorations. Backmatter explains more about the holiday and includes a sukkah diorama craft. Though the windy day is off-putting for the family, the narrative is low-key and gentle in tone; this is a slice-of-life tale primarily focused on the sukkah, and newcomers to Sukkot will come away enlightened. The primary driver of the page-turns is the joyfully colorful art, with bold pops of yellow, red, pink, and green giving the visuals a celebratory feel. The narrator and two other family members are pale-skinned; one parent is brown-skinned.
A quiet, loving introduction to a key Jewish holiday. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026
ISBN: 9781536235104
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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