A winning treat for yuletide collections and displays.
Animals deserve merry Christmases, too.
This cheery story, expressed in bouncy verse, will not only entertain young readers, but also open their eyes to a most delightful behind-the-scenes practice that goes on at holiday time in many zoos. If kids enjoy visiting zoos around the winter holidays, they may well witness the evidence of the activities discussed here. Opening with a riff on Clement C. Moore’s classic “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” the narrative describes the efforts of zoo personnel and many volunteers as they prepare “Christmas presents” for the animals in their charge. Treats including fruits, vegetables, fish, and meats are cut into holiday shapes, and toys, for play and enrichment opportunities, are gift-wrapped, decorated, and delivered by Santa so that the animals can enjoy nourishing, healthy snacks and revel in entertaining fun. Giraffes munch on kale wreaths; otters, penguins, and polar bears enjoy fish encased in ice blocks; tigers pounce on papier-mâché “zebras”; seals play with balls; and hippos chew edible stars off trees in their enclosures. And, like many young children and pets, zoo animals adore ripping up wrapping paper and ribbon. The dynamic, colorful digital illustrations will elicit big smiles from animal lovers. Human characters are diverse in terms of age and race; Santa presents white.
A winning treat for yuletide collections and displays. (information on how real zoos observe Christmas) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781797216560
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on.
Sharpson offers so-fish-ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas.
The title says it all. Our unseen narrator is just fine with other animals: mammals. Reptiles. Even birds. But fish? Don’t trust them! First off, the rules always seem to change with fish. Some live in fresh water; some reside in salt water. Some have gills, while others have lungs. You can never see what they’re up to, since they hang out underwater, and they’re always eating those poor, innocent crabs. Soon, the narrator introduces readers to Jeff, a vacant-eyed yellow fish—but don’t be fooled! Jeff’s “the craftiest fish of all.” All fish are, apparently, hellbent on world domination, the narrator warns. “DON’T TRUST FISH!” Finally, at the tail end, we get a sly glimpse of our unreliable narrator. Readers needn’t be ichthyologists to appreciate Sharpson’s meticulous comic timing. (“Ships always sink at sea. They never sink on land. Isn’t that strange?”) His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between extreme realism and goofy hilarity. He also fills the book with his own clever gags (such as an image of Gilligan’s Island’s S.S. Minnow going down and a bottle of sauce labeled “Surly Chik’n Srir’racha’r”).
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593616673
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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