Young readers will love Sabrina Sue.
A quiet story about pursuing one’s dreams and sharing them with others.
Even though chickens aren’t waterfowl, the hen protagonist of this early reader is enamored of the sea. Sabrina Sue has never been there, but she’s read about it and dreamed about it for her whole life. The other animals on the farm scoff at Sabrina Sue’s dream of seeing the sea, with the exception of a sympathetic frog (who’s never mentioned in text but who the illustrations demonstrate clearly is Sabrina Sue’s boon companion). She doesn’t let them stop her, though. Stowing away in the back of Farmer Martha’s pickup truck, Sabrina Sue and the frog go to the sea—and it’s everything she hoped it would be. Cartoon illustrations are energetic and humorous in tone, with details like Sabrina Sue’s diving mask (donned long before she gets to the waterfront) sure to provoke readers’ giggles. There are no calamities or disappointments for comic effect, just scenes of the delighted chicken and sidekick amphibian frolicking in the sand and sea. When she becomes lonesome for her friends (despite their earlier scoffing), Sabrina Sue and the frog return to the farm to share stories of their seaside adventure. The easy-reading narrative text is set in a large, clear font; dialogue conveyed in a faux handwriting type is set in speech bubbles. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-12-inch double-page spreads viewed at 21% of actual size.)
Young readers will love Sabrina Sue. (Early reader. 4-8)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-8425-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon Spotlight
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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