A shining paean to winter traditions around the globe.
What holidays do people observe in winter?
During a cozy Hanukkah celebration at home, a light-skinned youngster gazes at the lit menorah in the family’s window. The child imagines riding the miraculous beam that it radiates, watching in wonder as the light touches communities across the globe, each celebrating a different light-filled holiday. Luminous illustrations depict diyas for Diwali, kinaras for Kwanzaa, candle wreaths for St. Lucia Day, and krathongs for Loy Krathong. Finally, the light finds “you,” wherever you are and whatever you might celebrate. Returning home, the child realizes that the real holiday miracle is the light that radiates, connecting us all. A glowing ribbon winds through the pages, providing a lovely visualization of the metaphorical light that different traditions all bring to the world. The brief section describing “you” feels less slightly inclusive than the rest of the story. Though the text lists a variety of holidays that “you” might be celebrating, the brown-skinned, long-haired child on these pages is hanging colorful ornaments on what readers are likely to assume is a Christmas tree. The book also doesn’t explicitly acknowledge children who might not celebrate a fall or winter holiday. But the final few pages return to the more inclusive celebration of the collective light that arises from our diversity. A concluding note briefly describes the holidays portrayed. Characters are racially and culturally diverse.
A shining paean to winter traditions around the globe. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781772782899
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pajama Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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