Delightful discoveries await readers’ attention in this zany Yuletide offering.
Anthropomorphic animals seize the spotlight in this fun take on the familiar carol.
They’re all here: lords and ladies, pipers, drummers, maids, and so many fowls. The “true loves” are fluffy white bears dressed in Edwardian-style clothing, exchanging gifts in a very cozy parlor with a glowing fireplace. They hang golden pears on a pine tree topped with a partridge ornament; on the second day of Christmas, they smile over a live partridge in an ornate cage with the two turtle doves. The third day features a music-box partridge in a golden pear tree, two more doves, and a trio of aproned French hens sweeping and dusting; sharp-eyed readers will observe a different partridge-and-pear-tree item on every subsequent page. The hens and turtle doves multiply and are joined by pelicans, ostriches, green parrots, swans, and more. Mammals arrive for the festivities: One spread features feline milkmaids; another, raccoon milkers. Dogs, then pigs, then turtles, join the fray as drummers. Glowing with jade green and ruby red, Lockwood’s illustrations initially feel like vintage Christmas postcards. As more and more animals are added, the well-ordered setting becomes joyfully frenetic: One of the bears makes ice cream out of the abundant milk and eggs, supplementing the pastries prepared earlier. A final page lists the gifts packed into these sumptuous pages of organized chaos—and many other hidden treasures are not listed.
Delightful discoveries await readers’ attention in this zany Yuletide offering. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781612546995
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Brown Books Kids
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
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
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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