Families looking for additional holiday traditions may enjoy sharing this—and re-creating the activity—together.
In Elliott and Kemble’s beautifully illustrated Christmas title, designed for family reading, two elves start a new holiday tradition.
At the North Pole, Grandpa Norris Figgyworth launches the first Festival of the Elves. Every night in December, Grandpa Figgyworth leaves notes and trinkets for special elves in his life. Inspired by the festival, which helps spread magic, Grandpa Figgyworth’s grandchildren, Holly and Noel, decide to take the new tradition to a human home. The trip depletes all of their magic. But soon, as they share their kindness with a human family and the family shares the tradition with others, the elves’ magic grows! For 24 days, Holly and Noel leave different types of notes, based on the day of the week, to help the happy family celebrate. The conflict here isn’t about saving Christmas (which is never directly mentioned) but about building enough magic from kindness to get the elves home—a refreshing change from other holiday books. Kemble, who previously illustrated Enchanted Reindeer Treats (2012), offers detailed, Mary Engelbreit–like illustrations, with intricate backgrounds and a multihued cast of elves. The elves’ Victorian garb contrasts with the modern clothing of the human family. Holly Figgyworth’s voice as narrator is determinedly cheerful, with an accessible vocabulary for strong independent readers. Several notes left by the elves feature rhyming poetry, which scans well.
Families looking for additional holiday traditions may enjoy sharing this—and re-creating the activity—together.Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73507-890-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Ewonderment, LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PROFILES
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 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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