A high-spirited holiday charmer.
Hanukkah suits these dinos to a T.
All the dinosaur households are getting ready for the Festival of Lights. At Bary’s, they clean, mop, and dust so the house will look its best when Gran arrives. Meanwhile, T. rex prepares a scrumptious brisket for his family, and Tricera makes applesauce for his guests. Everyone’s excited to participate in Dino-Hanukkah. A group of little ones are anxious to light the menorah on each of the eight nights. However, they are told that the youngest dino child gets first dibs at performing the solemn ceremony. Readers watch as the dinosaurs lead songs and blessings, savor latkes and jelly doughnuts, open gifts, spin dreidels, win chocolate coins, and reenact the story of the brave Maccabee heroes of ancient times. This latest entry in the popular series is a rollicking holiday story, told in jaunty, bouncy rhyming couplets that scan very well and convey the happiness of the holiday, its traditions, and the warmth of family closeness. Several characters are referred to by nicknames that play off their species name—for instance, “Bary” for Baryonyx, “Stego” for Stegosaurus, and “Allo” for Allosaurus. Readers might have benefitted from backmatter identifying the dinosaurs by their full names. The vivid digital illustrations depict wonderfully energetic, expressive cartoonish dinos bursting with lively good cheer. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A high-spirited holiday charmer. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781728419213
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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