One of Staake’s sillier, more ebullient outings—and that’s saying something.
In this cheer for books and reading, a boy wants a pet—but one that’s easy, lacks fleas and won’t run away.
His accommodating parents suggest a book, and together, they trek to the Loyal Neighborhood Bookopolis, where a “frisky red hardcover” captivates. Leash-trained, this unique pet “never needed bathing. / And its ears would never droop. / But best of all that little pet… / It didn’t even poop!” Everything’s swell, until the day the boy returns from school to find that the maid has mistakenly given his pet to charity. The pair race to the thrift store to search for the beloved tome, finding it hiding in a doghouse in the store’s pet section. Staake’s quatrains scan well, though at times they approach—well, doggerel. The wacky premise is elevated to towering heights via the over-the-top digital illustrations, wherein round-headed people, multihued from persimmon to turquoise, cavort with dogs and cats of every description and temperament. Perspective in interior rooms is dizzying, while cityscapes are a gaudy geometry of tightly packed buildings, bridges, parks and populace. Obligingly, Staake finds room to portray this unusual pet’s power to transport its owner through its “tales / Of awesomeness and glory.”
One of Staake’s sillier, more ebullient outings—and that’s saying something. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 22, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-37312-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2014
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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