An imaginary origin story that youngsters will find perfect for the December holiday season.
Hickson presents an illustrated just-so children’s story explaining how gingerbread houses first came to be.
In a land of many kingdoms, nothing’s going right. There’s bad weather affecting the harvest, epidemics spreading diseases, and tyrannical kings making matters worse for their subjects. Hans is the child of a gingerbread baker in a run-down town where many have turned their backs on the hungry and unhoused and the town’s deteriorating infrastructure. Hans’ father, known as Herr Baker, likes to use intricate molds carved by his own father to shape the gingerbread dough. He once vowed not to sell them, but as time goes by and nobody buys any gingerbread, he has no choice but to trade the molds for baking supplies when the king demands special gingerbread for his upcoming feast. However, the king’s steward doesn’t approve of the resulting product, which he calls “too plain,” and demands a new batch, despite the fact Herr Baker now lacks sufficient ingredients. Hans, angered, finds himself unable to sleep that night, but then he looks out the window and sees something that appears to have a magical aspect: “The moonlight showed the beauty of the town as it could be. Hope stirred in Hans. Could this magical light somehow touch the gingerbread cookies too?” The boy creeps downstairs to where the rejected cookies are, and the way the moonlight falls on them sparks an idea that changes the fate of Hans’ entire village. This fairy-tale-like story is Hickson’s second book, after Laker’s World: A Bigfoot Story(2022), and its lesson of ingenuity and resourcefulness in the face of adversity gives it a festive twist that makes a welcome addition to the winter holiday bookshelf. Although it seems doubtful that a successful gingerbread feast could fix the systemic issues in Hans’ home kingdom, the narrative’s tone encourages readers to embrace a suspension of disbelief. Pląskowski’s full-color cartoon illustrations are as warm as gingerbread fresh from the oven, filling the page with rich colors and evocative settings. A gingerbread recipe is included.
An imaginary origin story that youngsters will find perfect for the December holiday season.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781958913079
Page Count: 46
Publisher: Three Ridges Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings.
The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry.
Daywalt’s expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, “What am I going to wear?” surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef’s toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who’s missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: “I wonder if we’re related!” White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page’s copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody’s excited about art class—“Even if they make a mess. Actually…ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!” Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9780593621110
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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