Devoted fans of Sesame Street will love to see their favorite characters in a different light: on the page instead of on TV.
The cast of Sesame Street declaims what love means to them.
It means something different for each of them, based on their personalities and interests: For example, “Love is infinite” for the Count, cookies for Cookie Monster, “being an everyday hero” for Grover, “building something together” for the Twiddlebugs, “accepting life even when it is messy” for Oscar, and “magical and full of wonder” for Abby Cadabby. Bert and Ernie are pictured with their pigeon and rubber duckie, respectively, and for them, “Love is being kind to all your best friends.” Snuffleupagus, Big Bird, and Little Bird say that “Love comes in all shapes and sizes.” Other characters include Zoe, Elmo, Rosita, the Honkers, and Julia. Kwiat’s illustrations use a scratchy, scribbly style that suits the characters, most of whom are furry or feathered. The word “love” on each page often matches the characters on that page and is capitalized and set in a large font; Oscar’s “love” oozes and drips, though in rainbow colors. The final page shows the entire cast: “Love is everywhere and all around us.” There’s little to engage readers beyond their pre-existing love of the characters, which it doesn’t even leverage. For instance, the book’s design misses the opportunity for readers to guess what their beloved characters might love most of all, instead just informing them, page after page.
Devoted fans of Sesame Street will love to see their favorite characters in a different light: on the page instead of on TV. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Dec. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4926-7749-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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Cookie-cutter predictability.
After all the daring escapes in the How To Catch… series, will the kids be able to catch Santa?
Oddly, previous installments saw the children trying (and failing) to catch an elf and a reindeer, but both are easily captured in this story. Santa, however, is slippery. Tempted but not fooled by poinsettias, a good book (attached to a slingshot armed with a teddy bear projectile), and, of course, milk and cookies, Santa foils every plan. The hero in a red suit has a job to do. Presents must be placed, and lists must be checked. He has no time for traps and foolery (except if you’re the elf, who falls for every one of them). Luckily, Santa helps the little rascal escape each time. Little is new here—the kids resort to similar snares found in previous works: netting, lures, and technological wonders such as the Santa Catcher 5000. Although the rhythm falters quite a bit (“How did we get out you ask? / It looked like we were done for. / Santa’s magic is very real, / and I cannot reveal more”), fans of the series may not mind. Santa and Christmas just might be enough to overcome the flaws. Santa and the elf are light-skinned, one of the children is brown-skinned, and the other presents as Asian. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cookie-cutter predictability. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728274270
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
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