The simple storyline and art complement each other as readers are gently guided to comprehend the folly of judging a book by...
What happens when the loudest (and smelliest) polar bear finds himself stuck on an ice floe with the quietest and most fastidious polar bear? They build a wall!
Neither Karl nor Hazel wants to have anything to do with the other, but as the ice steadily melts, they get closer and closer both literally and figuratively. Soon they’re playing games, singing songs, and fishing together. As their frozen chunk of real estate shrinks to a standing-room-only platform, they sight land and gleefully jump ashore. Taking off in separate directions, Karl inexplicably searches for fish. (Hasn’t he just left behind a fish-filled ocean?) Hazel, on the other hand, wants to explore and sit by herself. It doesn’t take long before the suddenly lonely bears call out to each other from across the vast new wilderness and reunite, even becoming roommates. The resolution, however pleasing, feels rushed, as the bears jump straight from realizing they’re friends to sharing living quarters. Olien’s palette of blues and stark white offset by bold, black outlines convincingly conjures the chilly Arctic landscape. Round, horn-rimmed glasses and a cheesy smile bring Karl’s gregarious personality to life, and Hazel’s reticent demeanor is nicely paired with an orange polka-dot scarf. Classroom-friendly facts and links about polar bears, climate change, and the Arctic are appended.
The simple storyline and art complement each other as readers are gently guided to comprehend the folly of judging a book by its cover. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-245177-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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