A silly, rib-tickling comedy of errors.
Big Chief Mouse-Catcher Mr. Bosh and his appropriately named Assistant Mouse-Catcher, Mr. Bumble, arrive in their van to remove a mouse at the request of a homeowner. Bosh dispatches Bumble with a stack of cheese-loaded mousetraps, instructing him to “go in and set the traps…and SNAP! That will be that.” Unfortunately, the mouse cleverly removes the cheese without triggering the traps. When Bumble returns, his squeaking shoes trip the traps, snapping him. Undaunted, Bosh orders Bumble to get a cat. Bumble produces a guard dog trained to protect homes from intruders, and it attacks Bumble instead of the mouse. Again, Bosh tells Bumble to get a cat. Bumble returns with a tiger, which predictably ignores the mouse and tackles Bumble. When Bosh’s final order for Bumble to get a cat sees Bumble leading in an elephant, the results prove catastrophic. Repetition in text and plot play a significant role in this ridiculous farce, with Bosh foolishly sending the obviously inept Bumble on the same errand with increasingly ludicrous results, dooming the enterprise. The colorful, comic illustrations, rendered in bold lines and simple shapes and featuring Bosh, Bumble, and assorted mousers with hilarious facial expressions and postures, add greatly to the humor and aura of absurd incompetence. Bosh has olive skin, and Bumble presents White.
A silly, rib-tickling comedy of errors. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72841-581-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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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