A funny and heartfelt demonstration of the right and wrong ways to resolve conflicts and share space.
What would you do if someone dumped all their “treasures” in your yard?
Mouse loves having his own yard. The lawn is always mowed to perfection, and there’s never so much as a twig or a branch out of place. Mouse has room to stretch and play…until Pak-Rat moves into the other side of Mouse’s tree trunk condo and begins decorating the shared yard with pinwheels, feline garden gnomes, chimes, and a flock of pink flamingos. Mouse dislikes the new additions, but he tries to ignore the intrusion. Finally, he attempts to express his concerns, but Pak-Rat can’t hear him over all the noise his new decorations are making. One night, after Mouse reaches his breaking point, he digs a deep hole and buries Pak-Rat’s lawn ornaments. Unfortunately, Mole unearths them all. It’s time for Mouse to come clean to Pak-Rat, and they reach a compromise. They both learn that being neighbors means they need to share and be flexible—but it also means having a friend to do things with. Busy, colorful, digitally created cartoon illustrations vividly depict a timid, fastidious Mouse, a clueless, exuberant Pak-Rat, and an increasingly crowded yard. The detailed artwork will provoke laughter but will also provide opportunities for discussion. Plenty of sound effects and a few puns add to the reading fun.
A funny and heartfelt demonstration of the right and wrong ways to resolve conflicts and share space. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780063246096
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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