A loving ode to cultural traditions, family, holidays, and food that hits the spot.
A Jamaican family celebrates Christmas with flavorful fun in this adaptation of a beloved Yuletide song.
“On the first day of Christmas,” a brown-skinned child eagerly watches “mi granny” serving up saltfish and ackee as three younger siblings, two parents, and a dog enter the scene in their seasonally decorated home. “On the second day of Christmas,” the child helps Granny add spices to a pot of sorrel. As the story progresses, Granny provides more and more foods: “seven chickens jerking,” “six plantains frying,” “five Champagne colas.” Readers watch this loving, stylishly dressed family go shopping, cook and bake, decorate a Christmas tree, barbecue, set the table, and finally sit down to a feast of beef patties, coco breads, breadfruits, oxtails, and more. Impressively, the repeated lines never get old, and the final spread offers a touch of humor. Rahman’s digital illustrations use a wide variety of perspectives, compositions, and palettes to keep the story feeling fresh. A recipe for ackee and saltfish is followed by a charming note of instructions from the author’s grandmother, written in a conversational interview style.
A loving ode to cultural traditions, family, holidays, and food that hits the spot. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781774885345
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
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
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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
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