Sweet but standard fare akin to daytime cartoons.
An ambitious lion cub perseveres in disappointment’s wake.
As Leo and Mama stroll the savanna in animation mastermind Esnaashari’s authorial debut, they notice some antelope springing about the riverbanks. Emboldened, Leo declares his intention to scale a nearby rock in a single bound. He squares up, counts down, takes off, and…gets tangled in a shrub. The braggadocious cub blames his bumble on a baleful breeze. His beaming mother notes there wasn’t any wind and suggests he try again. Leo backs up, takes a running start, pushes hard, and…flops face-first in the dirt. Wounded in pride if not body, he attributes this mishap to his considerate nature: Apparently, he stumbled in order to spare a bug underfoot. Doubtful, Mama offers a sympathetic smile. Leo again sets his feet, bounds for glory, grasps the peak, and…slips straight into the mud. Poor Leo! While the lioness tidies her crestfallen cub, they observe a lush ecosystem full of animals jumping and soaring with the greatest of ease. Mama urges Leo to try one last time, and initial reluctance turns to newfound resolve. He runs, jumps, and…summits the stone at last. Mother and son close the book making magnificent tandem leaps. With expressive faces embellished with tattoolike patterns, this lionhearted duo exercise resilience in the face of personal shortcomings and strict realism—but fall squarely into the Disneyfication trap. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 57% of actual size.)
Sweet but standard fare akin to daytime cartoons. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4610-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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