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SANTA MOUSE, WHERE ARE YOU?

Name: SANTA MOUSE, WHERE ARE YOU?
Author: Michael Brown
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3802-6

From the Santa Mouse series

by Michael Brown ; illustrated by Elfrieda De Witt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 14, 2021

Unusual and memorable.

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Santa Mouse has an adventure while helping Santa with deliveries.

Rhyming stanzas narrated in the first person plural introduce the small creature, who is dressed in a red-and-white Santa suit, complete with white beard and black boots. While Santa brings “big presents that come for you and me,” Santa mouse puts tiny gifts in the branches of the tree. One year, a child stringing lights on the tree decides to put a bright light “right at the very top, / so Santa Mouse can see!” While the children drift off to sleep, happy with their gleaming, yellow light, Santa Mouse is completing his tiny gifts with a yellow ribbon. Santa gives a last call for the journey, and Santa Mouse climbs aboard the sleigh. As they fly through the air, the tiny gift Santa Mouse is holding slips out of his hand; reaching to save it, Santa Mouse falls off himself, landing safely in a snowbank. Just when he thinks all is lost, the ribbon of the gift catches the light from atop the tree, guiding him to a place where Santa will find him. With simple illustrations characteristic of this book’s original 1966 publication date, this sweet, easy read is perfect for young ones who are fond of small animals and may inspire families to add a small new tradition to their holiday celebrations. Happily, it is free of the lingering stereotypical elements that marred the recent revision of prequel Santa Mouse (2019). Almost all human characters are White, including Santa. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Unusual and memorable. (Picture book. 3-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-5344-3802-6

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

- BOOK REVIEW
SANTA MOUSE BAKES CHRISTMAS COOKIES
by Michael Brown ; illustrated by Robert McPhillips

- BOOK REVIEW
SANTA MOUSE
by Michael Brown ; illustrated by Elfrieda De Witt

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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HOW TO CATCH SANTA CLAUS

From the How To Catch… series

by Alice Walstead ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2023

Cookie-cutter predictability.

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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)