A charming winner about purpose, bravery, and making one’s dreams come true.
Dedication and determination are everything.
Gabriel, an old elephant who lives by the sea, reminisces about visiting a lifeboat as a youngster. He loved watching the crew ready it to rescue sailors and enjoyed listening to them sing sea shanties. He longed to be so brave! When Gabriel asked to join them, they told him to return when he was older and stronger. Gabriel read about storms and sea rescues and practiced rowing. He grew older, stronger, and BIGGER. By the time he returned to the crew, Gabriel had unfortunately grown too large to fit into the boat. More intent than ever, Gabriel constructed his own vessel, singing mightily. Meanwhile, the fishing fleet set out, then ran into big trouble when a strong gale hit. The regular lifeboat team couldn’t help. Guess who rescued the sailors safely with his own powerful vessel? In the end, everyone decided to build a larger craft to accommodate everyone. By turns thrilling and warmly reassuring, this story demonstrates that resolve—and inclusion—wins out; readers will cheer for Gabriel all the way. Sailing through the narrative are vigorous shanties readers might well join in on. Fitting his animal cast out in thick sweaters and raincoats, Vere brings the Cornish setting to life beautifully. Gabriel cuts an endearing figure in the lively illustrations, rendered in a limited palette of soft oranges, grays, and blues.
A charming winner about purpose, bravery, and making one’s dreams come true. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9780525580904
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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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