Still, sure to give readers, whether adult or child, lots of ideas for easing children into the transition to school.
In the week before kindergarten starts, Monkey’s parents and older brother do all they can to help him feel ready. Will it be enough?
At the beginning of the week, Monkey is definitely not ready. He sucks his thumb while snuggling his blankie, plays with his familiar toys, and has a whole list of worries. Besides, he doesn’t really need to go to school: he can already count to 12 and remember most of the alphabet. His parents buy him a new lunch box and cool sneakers; he plays school with his family, and his older brother tells him about all the fun he’ll have; and Mommy and Daddy read him all the books about kindergarten at the library. A playdate with his new classmates also helps put his fears to rest. The night before his first day, he makes his lunch and packs a favorite book from home, and in the morning, Monkey walks into his classroom, finally ready. While the colored-pencil–and-gouache illustrations are bright and colorful and show things that will be familiar to readers, Brown’s monkeys are not terribly cute or cuddly. Rendered in a childlike style, their expressions are sometimes odd. Also, those practicing new reading skills may have difficulty with Brown’s handwritten text, as the a’s look like d’s, letters that usually dip below the line don’t, and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between upper- and lowercase letters.
Still, sure to give readers, whether adult or child, lots of ideas for easing children into the transition to school. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-49658-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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