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JOY TO THE WORLD

Name: JOY TO THE WORLD
Author: Ruth Sawyer

series editor: Ruth Sawyer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 1966

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From the very well-known author/storyteller—a spread of six unusual and varied Christmas stories from five nations, each introduced by an appropriate carol. The Arabian "The Two Lambs" is a gentle vision of the Nativity. "This is the Christmas," from Serbia is the most touching story, about a blind boy who was not permitted to enter the church because of his gypsy origins. The Irish fairytale "The Precious Herbs of Christmas" tells of a boy who overcomes his fear of the dark to save his mother's life. The least successful is the "What the Three Kings Brought," described as "A Personal Christmas Story" and told in the author's first person about an impoverished Spanish boy who was given his wishes on Christmas; it lacks the legendary quality and as a result seems overly sentimental. "San Froilan of the Wilderness" was the Spanish Saint who tamed the wolf who killed his donkey, and "The Miracle of Saint Cumgall" is the Irish legend of the friar who was rescued by the mouse he had befriended. The narrations are well done, each picking up the appropriate national tone. Storytellers and teachers on the lookout for a new Christmas story will find this easy to read aloud, and several of the selections would be easily adaptable for dramatization in holiday pageants. The delicate black and brown ink drawings by Trina Schart Hyman incorporate attractive peasant stylization, but are secondary to the text.

Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: May 8, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1966

- BOOK REVIEW
THE REMARKABLE CHRISTMAS OF THE COBBLER'S SONS
adapted by Ruth Sawyer & illustrated by Barbara Cooney

- BOOK REVIEW
DADDLES
by Ruth Sawyer

- BOOK REVIEW
THE YEAR OF THE CHRISTMAS DRAGON
by Ruth Sawyer

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S VALENTINE

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 8, 2020

Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires.

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Little Blue Truck feels, well, blue when he delivers valentine after valentine but receives nary a one.

His bed overflowing with cards, Blue sets out to deliver a yellow card with purple polka dots and a shiny purple heart to Hen, one with a shiny fuchsia heart to Pig, a big, shiny, red heart-shaped card to Horse, and so on. With each delivery there is an exchange of Beeps from Blue and the appropriate animal sounds from his friends, Blue’s Beeps always set in blue and the animal’s vocalization in a color that matches the card it receives. But as Blue heads home, his deliveries complete, his headlight eyes are sad and his front bumper droops ever so slightly. Blue is therefore surprised (but readers may not be) when he pulls into his garage to be greeted by all his friends with a shiny blue valentine just for him. In this, Blue’s seventh outing, it’s not just the sturdy protagonist that seems to be wilting. Schertle’s verse, usually reliable, stumbles more than once; stanzas such as “But Valentine’s Day / didn’t seem much fun / when he didn’t get cards / from anyone” will cause hitches during read-alouds. The illustrations, done by Joseph in the style of original series collaborator Jill McElmurry, are pleasant enough, but his compositions often feel stiff and forced.

Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires. (Board book. 1-4)

Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-358-27244-1

Page Count: 20

Publisher: HMH Books

Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK MAKES A FRIEND
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

- BOOK REVIEW
TIME FOR SCHOOL, LITTLE BLUE TRUCK
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

- BOOK REVIEW
GOOD NIGHT, LITTLE BLUE TRUCK
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

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WRECKING BALL

From the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series , Vol. 14

by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2019

Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.

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The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.

When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.

Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)