A fun Christmas tale that emphasizes the power of the imagination.
The magic surrounding Santa Claus comes from children in this debut rhyming picture book from a husband-and-wife team.
Narrator Sam, a Christmas-loving child with brown skin and curly hair, explains one of the truths of the holiday: Santa looks like readers as well as Sam. To help readers understand this, Sam reveals Santa’s origin: a group of diverse kids coming together to use the magic of imagination to bring the jolly figure to life. But though the children agree on the hat, the gift-giving, and the reindeer, they can’t decide on Santa’s appearance. With ideas all over the place, including “Bronto-Santa” in dinosaur form, it seems as if a consensus is impossible—until magic produces a Santa who looks like kids imagine him. They note: “Remember, it’s ourmagic that fills Christmas with cheer.” Sam, whose gender is never specified, is a charming narrator whose easy rhymes feel both natural and mentorlike, a trusted older child delivering wisdom to youngsters. Robinson-Weldon’s rhymes scan smoothly, using mainly familiar vocabulary tied to the holiday for independent readers. Weldon’s colorful cartoon illustrations feature a variety of traditional clothing on the children and an even bigger array of looks and costumes for the Santas the kids imagine. Young readers are sure to giggle at some of the sillier Santas (one has green feet; another rides a unicycle). The message that Santa reflects a child’s own appearance—or imagination—comes through clearly.
A fun Christmas tale that emphasizes the power of the imagination.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-578-87481-4
Page Count: 23
Publisher: XYZ Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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A forgettable effort that fails to capture any of the magical charm of Santa’s story. (Picture book. 3-6)
Wallace and Elkerton continue their series about catching elusive mythical creatures (How to Catch a Leprechaun, 2016, etc.) with this Christmas story about an elf who must avoid traps constructed by children before Santa’s annual visit.
The unnamed elf narrator is the sole helper traveling with Santa on his delivery rounds on Christmas Eve, with each house featuring a different type of trap for elves. The spunky elf avoids a mechanical “elf snatcher,” hidden in a plate of cookies, as well as simple traps made of tinsel, double-sided tape, and a cardboard box concealing a mean-looking cat. Another trap looks like a bomb hidden in a box of candy, and a complicated trap in a maze has an evil cowboy clown with a branding iron, leading to the elf’s cry, “Hey, you zapped my tushy!” The bomb trap and the branding iron seem to push the envelope of child-made inventions. The final trap is located in a family grocery store that’s booby-trapped with a “Dinner Cannon” shooting out food, including a final pizza that the elf and Santa share. The singsong, rhyming text has a forced cheeriness, full of golly-jolly-holly Christmas spirit and too many exclamation marks, as well as rhyming word pairs that miss the mark. (No, little elf-boy, “smarter” and “harder” do not rhyme.) Bold, busy illustrations in a cartoon style have a cheeky appeal with a focus on the freckle-faced white elf with auburn curls and a costume with a retro vibe. (Santa is also white.)
A forgettable effort that fails to capture any of the magical charm of Santa’s story. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4631-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
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