Lackluster text but worth a look for the marvelous art.
In this picture-book adaptation of a Swiss German song written by the author, a caterpillar undergoes a spectacular transformation while a neighboring worm scoffs.
“I’m chryzzaling,” Caterpillar tells Worm in an attempt to convey its feeling of bewildered excitement. “Very soon I could be changing everything.” The worm and its wife chuckle over the caterpillar’s claim that it might even fly. They miss the main event—the caterpillar’s exit from the chrysalis and its first flight as a butterfly—but our protagonist beams with pride all the same. Though the moral is sound, the awkward phrasing will leave listeners uninspired: “Those who chryzzle and who trust their deepest feelings / Stand a flying chance of reaching anywhere.” Bond’s sentimental words make for a clunky read-aloud (“Listen, life is full of secrets and surprises. / There’s far more to see than where we sit and crawl. / So I’m chryzzaling and wonder where we’re heading, / And what is the deeper meaning of it all”). Völk’s delicately drawn and colored illustrations, however, are delightful. Whimsical faces on both Caterpillar and Worm (who sports a pair of spectacles), trees that seem to flutter in the wind, and small moments like people buying balloons on the town square convey joy as the perspective moves from the level of grass and flower stalks to the sky. Human characters have skin the color of the page.
Lackluster text but worth a look for the marvelous art. (QR code for the titular song) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780735845596
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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