A sweet, playful tale about stealing shoes and finding family.
A South Asian girl grapples with big changes at a family wedding.
Shilpa’s older sister, Maya, is getting married, and Shilpa is nervous. What if she loses Maya to her new family? Maya’s future husband’s younger brother, Rishi, makes her especially uneasy. For one thing, he won’t stop calling Shilpa “Bean.” For another, Maya calls Rishi “sweet”—will Maya ever call Shilpa that again? Shilpa tries to get past these troubles and focus on her main responsibility: upholding the tradition of Joota Chupai, or stealing the groom’s shoes and returning them only when he offers a prize. Shilpa and her cousin plot to steal the shoes, but Rishi is fast and tries to make off with them. In an unexpected twist, Rishi falls and hurts his knee, and Shilpa stops to help him. She soon realizes that Rishi isn’t her rival. Indeed, he turns out to be her newest partner in crime at the wedding—and maybe even her newest brother. Upbeat text and vibrant illustrations combine for a raucous story full of heart, movement, and joy. Although Shilpa’s change in attitude toward Rishi feels abrupt, her fears about losing her sibling and integrating into a new family are both relatable and beautifully explored. The illustrations are particularly inviting, featuring bold colors, intense emotional expression, and laugh-out-loud silliness.
A sweet, playful tale about stealing shoes and finding family. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780807571866
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 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
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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