A funny and charming cat-detective story accompanied by clever wordplay and delightful illustrations.
Muffin the cat knows everything that goes on in the neighborhood, and the perky marmalade cat is very sure that there are no bears in the Little Bear Bakery….
…Until one night the adorable little hard-boiled detective senses a mysterious new growling sound in the air and investigates. Following the noise and spouting Sam Spade–like comments (“I slipped into the darkness like icing melting down a hot cake”), Muffin enters the bakery and discovers the “biggest mouse I had ever seen.” Correction: “the smallest bear I’d ever “seen.” Using finely honed ace-detective skills, Muffin deduces the reason for that rumbling sound and gets on the case. Author/illustrator Sarcone-Roach uses acrylic paint and marker to depict Muffin and the baby bear joyfully breaking into display cases to reach the sweet treats. Once the rumbling (in the bear’s tummy) has quieted, a dark shadow falls over the two, and they find they have a very large, very huggy visitor. It turns out that big bears like sprinkles, too. The next morning, after Muffin has seen the bears off safely, job done and case closed, the neighborhood returns to normal. Well, except for the owner of the bakery, a woman with pale skin and straight, black hair and a look of astonishment at the state of her shop that is priceless.
A funny and charming cat-detective story accompanied by clever wordplay and delightful illustrations. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-399-55665-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
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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