This cozy duo shows why every day should be Thanksgiving.
A gentle reminder to give thanks for all that you have.
One day, a rabbit and a frog ramble around their rural community with two purposes in mind. First, they share their thanks for their world filled with comfort, friends, food, family, nature, and affection. “We give thanks for cousins / and for fathers and for mothers. / We give thanks for grandpas / and for sisters and for brothers.” One couplet bobbles the scansion but is charming nevertheless. Another, scent-filled verse hints at “noses” and creatively rhymes “roses” with “toeses.” And as they make their way, the rabbit and the frog also seem to issue invitations to everyone in the community, resulting in a friend-filled feast and their final message of inclusion: “Bless our nights and bless our days / and bless all those we meet. // We give thanks for everything, / and now… // it’s time to EAT!” In places, illustrations with pops of neon blue, pink, green, and purple against a generally pastel palette play whimsically with the gentle text. However, the bright green frog in a fluorescent pink, feathered hat is giggleworthy, as is his creative yellow portrait of a brown dog and the studio cat dripping with yellow paint in a picture where literal readers may expect the yellow dog and yellow cat of the verse. Young readers will also appreciate snow-capped mountains in neon blue and shocking pink and the creative, but perhaps out of control, vehicles. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
This cozy duo shows why every day should be Thanksgiving. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4424-6507-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
Cookie-cutter predictability.
After all the daring escapes in the How To Catch… series, will the kids be able to catch Santa?
Oddly, previous installments saw the children trying (and failing) to catch an elf and a reindeer, but both are easily captured in this story. Santa, however, is slippery. Tempted but not fooled by poinsettias, a good book (attached to a slingshot armed with a teddy bear projectile), and, of course, milk and cookies, Santa foils every plan. The hero in a red suit has a job to do. Presents must be placed, and lists must be checked. He has no time for traps and foolery (except if you’re the elf, who falls for every one of them). Luckily, Santa helps the little rascal escape each time. Little is new here—the kids resort to similar snares found in previous works: netting, lures, and technological wonders such as the Santa Catcher 5000. Although the rhythm falters quite a bit (“How did we get out you ask? / It looked like we were done for. / Santa’s magic is very real, / and I cannot reveal more”), fans of the series may not mind. Santa and Christmas just might be enough to overcome the flaws. Santa and the elf are light-skinned, one of the children is brown-skinned, and the other presents as Asian. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cookie-cutter predictability. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728274270
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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