A friendly approach to the pleasures of multilingualism.
When a polyglot boy loses his birthday gift, his linguistic ability helps him find it in this picture book.
When his parents promise “any present” he wants for his birthday, Dylan asks for a pet. But not the usual dog or cat; Dylan wants a chicken he can speak to in Portuguese, Ukrainian, and English, the languages spoken at home. He shows Kiki to his best friend, Emma, who was born in South Africa and is bilingual in Zulu and English. But as Dylan and Emma are cloud-gazing, Kiki disappears. She’s left a trail of corn so the friends track her to an older man’s yard. Since the man is Portuguese, it’s lucky that Dylan can speak the language and get his new pet back. The author of several books for children on learning new languages, Santos helps introduce the concept of multilingualism in a kid-friendly way, with an engaging, if somewhat slight, plot. He includes examples of foreign vocabulary and unfamiliar alphabets, such as the Ukrainian "Добре" (“All right”). While translations are provided in the text, readers must use a link to a web page to find pronunciations, limiting the book's usefulness. But with some advocating an English-only America, the work encourages appreciation for world languages. In her third children’s book as illustrator, Miklós adds quirky appeal through soft tints and amusing details, such as Kiki’s flirtatious batted eyelashes and a flower behind the ear.
A friendly approach to the pleasures of multilingualism.Pub Date: April 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-952451-58-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Linguacious
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property.
Since a reformed Grinch is hardly any fun, this follow-up Grinches him up once more.
Those seeking more of the same, prepare to receive precisely that. Christmas is coming (again!), and the Grinch can hardly wait. He’s been patient all year, and now he can finally show the Whos down in Who-ville how much he’s changed. When the Grinch learns of a tree-decorating contest, he figures that if he wins, it’ll prove he truly has the Christmas spirit. He throws himself into the task, but when it comes time to judge the trees, the Grinch is horrified to discover that he’s received only the second-place trophy. Can Cindy-Lou Who find the words to save the day? Replicating many of the original beats and wordplay of the original, this tale feels like less a sequel and more like a vaguely rewritten variation. Meanwhile, Ruiz’s art seeks to bridge the gap between the animated Chuck Jones version of the Grinch and the one depicted in the original book. This thankless task results in a strange uncanny valley between Seuss and Jones but does allow the artist a chance to colorize everything and lend some racial diversity to the Who population (Cindy-Lou is light-skinned). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780593563168
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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
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