A sweet, silly, and slightly surreal celebration of individuality and connection.
A series of mysterious messages yields surprising insights for this farm family.
Farmers Otis and Abby have two children, Willie and Belle—and 12 beloved chickens, who are often included in family activities, eating fresh salads, reading, and sitting in rocking chairs on the porch. Krosoczka’s expressive illustrations, rendered in what appears to be watercolor and pencil, bring humor and tenderness to each character, human and chicken. One day, the humans are surprised to discover a message that appears to have been scratched in the dirt by a chicken: “No more ARUGULA.” More messages, complete with charming mistakes such as a reversed letter “e,” soon follow: “More stories about brave chickens” and “too hot. Can we have a fan?” After Tripp, their letter carrier, tells the townspeople, human crowds appear with smartphones and money in hand to document the “chicken talk” and purchase eggs. Unlike Charlotte’s Web, the humans and their feathered wordsmiths appear to live in mutual appreciation happily ever after. Yet the greatest mystery of all is never solved: Can readers trust that these messages truly are coming directly from the chickens? What would it mean if they were not? Regardless, MacLachlan’s latest models an attentive, loving, and respectful relationship between humans and their animal companions that even those without articulate pets will appreciate. The farmers and their children present white; Tripp has brown skin.
A sweet, silly, and slightly surreal celebration of individuality and connection. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-239864-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
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
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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