This quirky picture book is sweet but overlong.
If someone wrote a book about you, what would happen in it?
Who would you be? What would you do? This rhyming, cheerily illustrated picture book offers some possible answers. You might, for example, travel on a broomstick or find yourself a magic wand. You might travel to outer space or the Arctic, or you may stay closer to home. You might do incredible, important things like rescuing royalty or giving huge speeches or tearing down walls. You might heal the world by curing polar bears of their blues or simply apologizing for something you did wrong. You might go on wild adventures that give you the opportunity to interact with walruses, dinosaurs, emus, yaks, and tea-sipping frogs. When you use your imagination and tell your own stories, there are endless possibilities for magic, mayhem, fun, and learning. The layered, geometric illustrations include cartoon characters with various skin tones inhabiting colorful, detailed worlds that burst with life and movement. The text has a call-and-response feel that lends itself to reading out loud. Some of the pages reference possible choices that could occur both in dreams and in real life, such as doing small kindnesses or choosing your own path. At times, however, the words feel repetitive, with, perhaps, scenarios added to fill out the page count rather than because they were strictly necessary. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 56.3% of actual size.)
This quirky picture book is sweet but overlong. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-304150-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.
A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.
The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665954761
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
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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