This enchanting presentation of the Día de los Muertos holiday will resonate with both those who are new to its traditions...
As the title suggests, Thong and Ballesteros celebrate a Latino holiday that, though it is becoming increasingly more popular in all parts of the United States, is still somewhat misunderstood by non-Latino Americans.
Thong (Green is a Chile Pepper, 2014, etc.) once again proves her mastery at creating a multicultural picture-book text that engages all readers. With an upbeat, celebratory tone, the collaborators introduce many of the traditions and images associated with Día de los Muertos, known in English as the Day of the Dead. “At home we’ve adorned our altares with care. / They’re heaped with recuerdos and good things to share….” The rhyme is rhythmic and effortless, making it a delightful read-aloud. The interspersed Spanish words are defined contextually rather than repeated in translation; this makes the text easy to understand regardless of readers’ language skills and keeps it from feeling redundant for bilingual readers. Ballesteros’ animated illustrations provide images of the Spanish vocabulary in many of the depicted scenes. Readers will feel the festive remembrance of loved ones who have passed. A glossary at the end provides explicit English definitions of the Spanish words, but it unfortunately lacks any pronunciation guide.
This enchanting presentation of the Día de los Muertos holiday will resonate with both those who are new to its traditions and those who have been celebrating for generations. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1566-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property.
Since a reformed Grinch is hardly any fun, this follow-up Grinches him up once more.
Those seeking more of the same, prepare to receive precisely that. Christmas is coming (again!), and the Grinch can hardly wait. He’s been patient all year, and now he can finally show the Whos down in Who-ville how much he’s changed. When the Grinch learns of a tree-decorating contest, he figures that if he wins, it’ll prove he truly has the Christmas spirit. He throws himself into the task, but when it comes time to judge the trees, the Grinch is horrified to discover that he’s received only the second-place trophy. Can Cindy-Lou Who find the words to save the day? Replicating many of the original beats and wordplay of the original, this tale feels like less a sequel and more like a vaguely rewritten variation. Meanwhile, Ruiz’s art seeks to bridge the gap between the animated Chuck Jones version of the Grinch and the one depicted in the original book. This thankless task results in a strange uncanny valley between Seuss and Jones but does allow the artist a chance to colorize everything and lend some racial diversity to the Who population (Cindy-Lou is light-skinned). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780593563168
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
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