A tender reflection on the relationship between a child and a beloved pet.
The story of a boy and a very special chicken.
Sam loves Lucy. Once his smallest hen, she became the “star of the flock” after he lavished extra attention on her. Now Lucy watches over the chicks, looks out for hawks, and ensures that the other hens have places to roost. As time passes, her bond with Sam grows stronger. She helps him with chores, finds him the biggest worms when he goes fishing, and waits for his return from school. One day, Sam notices her limping. The vet explains that Lucy is getting old; all Sam can do is watch over her and give her extra love. Soon, Lucy can’t move from her nesting box, so Sam handfeeds her. One day, he observes the other hens standing beside her nearly motionless body. Sam picks her up, strokes her, listens to her cluck softly, and wraps her in a blanket. Together, the friends sit under a tree for a long time, Sam recalling happy memories. Children will probably understand, even without this heart-tugging book’s explicitly saying so, that Lucy dies at the end. Youngsters who’ve lost beloved pets will especially feel sorrow at Lucy’s loss; the description of the bond between boy and animal is warmly and realistically portrayed. The soft, gently colored illustrations suit this earnest tale. Sam and other characters are light-skinned.
A tender reflection on the relationship between a child and a beloved pet. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781534112766
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 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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