Expresses what many already know: Teaching is much more than just grades.
Equal parts love letter and gratitude to those who teach.
Teachers too often go unsung. Rosenthal sets out to change that. The opening spread doesn’t beat around the bush: A large “THANK YOU” is scrawled across a banner held by a group of beaming children. Thanks for what? “Just because.” Educators do their work everywhere, not just in the classroom, and Rosenthal and Hatam recognize this. They show inspiration happening in a youth orchestra, outdoors, a yoga studio, and various sports settings as well. Some of the platitudes may feel familiar—“Thank you for noticing I dream big and encouraging me to do just that”—but Hatam’s interpretations can put clever spins on oft-heard words; here, using white lines against a green background to emulate a chalkboard, she depicts a tot lassoing the moon. Children look up to their teachers with starry eyes, as Rosenthal understands (“You’re super kind, you’re super cool, and you’re my superhero!”), but often don’t fully appreciate their influence until later in their lives. Rosenthal actively encourages sharing the book with teachers—a later spread looks like a gift-wrapped box, with text reading, “this book is my gift to you”—but hopefully young readers will also be inspired to write thank-you notes of their own. Both teachers and children depicted are racially and ethnically diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 60.2% of actual size.)
Expresses what many already know: Teaching is much more than just grades. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-301274-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
A forgettable effort that fails to capture any of the magical charm of Santa’s story. (Picture book. 3-6)
Wallace and Elkerton continue their series about catching elusive mythical creatures (How to Catch a Leprechaun, 2016, etc.) with this Christmas story about an elf who must avoid traps constructed by children before Santa’s annual visit.
The unnamed elf narrator is the sole helper traveling with Santa on his delivery rounds on Christmas Eve, with each house featuring a different type of trap for elves. The spunky elf avoids a mechanical “elf snatcher,” hidden in a plate of cookies, as well as simple traps made of tinsel, double-sided tape, and a cardboard box concealing a mean-looking cat. Another trap looks like a bomb hidden in a box of candy, and a complicated trap in a maze has an evil cowboy clown with a branding iron, leading to the elf’s cry, “Hey, you zapped my tushy!” The bomb trap and the branding iron seem to push the envelope of child-made inventions. The final trap is located in a family grocery store that’s booby-trapped with a “Dinner Cannon” shooting out food, including a final pizza that the elf and Santa share. The singsong, rhyming text has a forced cheeriness, full of golly-jolly-holly Christmas spirit and too many exclamation marks, as well as rhyming word pairs that miss the mark. (No, little elf-boy, “smarter” and “harder” do not rhyme.) Bold, busy illustrations in a cartoon style have a cheeky appeal with a focus on the freckle-faced white elf with auburn curls and a costume with a retro vibe. (Santa is also white.)
A forgettable effort that fails to capture any of the magical charm of Santa’s story. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4631-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
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
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