A tree-trimmed holiday narrative that doesn’t hang together.
Families enjoy the quiet after Christmas.
Christmas chaos has led to post-Christmas calm in this story that sees racially diverse families cleaning up, quietly enjoying toys, and appreciating nature. The smiling children of each family help tidy and sip cocoa with nary a meltdown. Rudd’s simple but uneven rhymes in a flexible ABCB pattern anchor the quotidian days. Singular words are rhymed with plurals, and attempts at slant rhymes fall flat; sometimes the language becomes unnecessarily repetitive: “Now it all seems too finished, / too over, too ending.” Chavarri’s art, too, is greeting-card cheery and wrapping-paper ready. The illustrations of holiday memories that open and close the book are generic gift boxes, pine trees, and candy canes rather than specific toys or holiday foods. The tale lacks a central family or character for readers to follow. The strongest scene is a three-spread sequence set outdoors when children hang birdseed ornaments for critters and play in the snow. There, the narrative includes a rhyme that works: “You tromp through the woods— / jumping rocks, watching birds— / and find magic in nature / without noise, without words”—a lovely way for families to experience the post-holiday doldrums.
A tree-trimmed holiday narrative that doesn’t hang together. (directions for birdseed ornaments, other ideas for activities after Christmas) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780374390167
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground.
A little red sleigh has big Christmas dreams.
Although the detailed, full-color art doesn’t anthropomorphize the protagonist (which readers will likely identify as a sled and not a sleigh), a close third-person text affords the object thoughts and feelings while assigning feminine pronouns. “She longed to become Santa’s big red sleigh,” reads an early line establishing the sleigh’s motivation to leave her Christmas-shop home for the North Pole. Other toys discourage her, but she perseveres despite creeping self-doubt. A train and truck help the sleigh along, and when she wishes she were big, fast, and powerful like them, they offer encouragement and counsel patience. When a storm descends after the sleigh strikes out on her own, an unnamed girl playing in the snow brings her to a group of children who all take turns riding the sleigh down a hill. When the girl brings her home, the sleigh is crestfallen she didn’t reach the North Pole. A convoluted happily-ever-after ending shows a note from Santa that thanks the sleigh for giving children joy and invites her to the North Pole next year. “At last she understood what she was meant to do. She would build her life up spreading joy, one child at a time.” Will she leave the girl’s house to be gifted to other children? Will she stay and somehow also reach ever more children? Readers will be left wondering. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 31.8% of actual size.)
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72822-355-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
Cookie-cutter predictability.
After all the daring escapes in the How To Catch… series, will the kids be able to catch Santa?
Oddly, previous installments saw the children trying (and failing) to catch an elf and a reindeer, but both are easily captured in this story. Santa, however, is slippery. Tempted but not fooled by poinsettias, a good book (attached to a slingshot armed with a teddy bear projectile), and, of course, milk and cookies, Santa foils every plan. The hero in a red suit has a job to do. Presents must be placed, and lists must be checked. He has no time for traps and foolery (except if you’re the elf, who falls for every one of them). Luckily, Santa helps the little rascal escape each time. Little is new here—the kids resort to similar snares found in previous works: netting, lures, and technological wonders such as the Santa Catcher 5000. Although the rhythm falters quite a bit (“How did we get out you ask? / It looked like we were done for. / Santa’s magic is very real, / and I cannot reveal more”), fans of the series may not mind. Santa and Christmas just might be enough to overcome the flaws. Santa and the elf are light-skinned, one of the children is brown-skinned, and the other presents as Asian. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cookie-cutter predictability. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728274270
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
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