Feather your nest with this book.
Birds of a feather flock together (but they can still like different things).
Nine pigeons introduce themselves as a perfect flock, reasoning they are so “because we are all perfectly the same.” And while physically they are all similar, save for variations in the colors of their throat bands, it’s obvious from the front endpapers that one blue-banded bird is a little different. For starters, that particular pigeon sports a pair of hip red glasses and has a singular approach to life. Why walk barefoot through the park when instead you can wear flashy cowboy boots? Why fly from place to place in regular fashion when instead you can wear a cape and show off your superhero moves? As the flock reminds readers of their perfect uniformity, they eventually grow frustrated with the cheerful outlier’s eccentricities, challenging its uniqueness. Unperturbed, the maverick holds its ground and encourages the rest of the flock to explore things they like, helping the other birds to learn that individuality doesn’t reduce their connection; it just allows them room to explore their individual interests. The pithy text and bright, humorous illustrations (the pigeons look like simplified bowling pins with wings) work in tandem to deliver moments of quiet amusement. The story overall doesn’t tread new ground, but it treads old ground admirably. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 100% of actual size.)
Feather your nest with this book. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5781-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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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