A marvelous close-up look at great horned owls.
Readers follow a great horned owl pair as they start a family.
Reusing a magpie’s old nest, the female owl lays three eggs over three days. The male keeps the female fed for the next 30 days, and the eggs hatch over three more days, Smallest Owlet last of all. Readers learn what owls eat, how the owlets develop and change, and about threats to the young owls. When crows swoop in and threaten the babies, Smallest Owlet falls out of the nest and must remain on the ground for the time being. Father Owl provides food for the whole family while Mother Owl protects Smallest Owl, using her wings and tail to appear larger and more threatening to predators. Luckily, the two aren’t on the ground long, as the owlets are now strong enough to use their feet and beaks to climb. Eventually, they’re big enough to jump from branch to branch, the distances growing until they’re gliding and finally flying between trees and learning to hunt. By late summer, all three are grown and on their own. Backmatter offers additional fascinating facts about great horned owls. Graham’s gorgeous, realistic artwork is a big draw, each tree, wing, and owl face masterfully detailed; she doesn’t shy from the realities of nature (though it’s not overly gruesome, either). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A marvelous close-up look at great horned owls. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2023
ISBN: 9781554556144
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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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