Marching to your own drummer is sometimes the best way of being true to yourself.
In this Dutch import, a group of birds tries to teach a newly hatched babe how to fly.
Readers see only a tiny portion of the parent before the egg rolls away to hatch. A (geographically improbable) collection of other birds flock to the chick and ask all sorts of questions. While the tot knows his name is Tim, that seems to be all he knows, so Master Owl determines that the first order of business must be to teach him how to fly (never mind that only one bird species can fly right after hatching). Mother Blackbird and Father Duck each give Tim a lesson, but he’s too busy watching the world around him to pay attention. Miss Eagle, on the other hand, gets the other birds to fashion larger wings for Tim, then transports him to the cliff top. But he shrugs the wings off and shouts, “I DON’T WANT TO FLY!” With that, Tim hears the familiar voice of his dad, a penguin. The other birds look chagrined, even more so once Tim decides to give them all a lesson in diving. Brandenburg’s illustrations are more realistic than cartoonish, the various species identifiable though not labeled. While the story itself isn’t rooted in realism, the takeaway—sometimes it’s best not to listen to the crowds—is a sound one.
Marching to your own drummer is sometimes the best way of being true to yourself. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781605379463
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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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