A festive tale that teaches valuable lessons of resilience and adaptability.
A young girl celebrates Eid in a new way in a new home.
It’s Eid al-Fitr, and this one is special for Sarah—it’s her family’s first time observing the holiday in their new country since leaving Pakistan. With a small, beautifully embroidered pouch in hand, Sarah asks family members for her money gift, or eidi. Mama gently reminds Sarah to wait to be offered eidi, but Sarah can’t contain her excitement and sweetly plans how she will use the money she collects later at the mosque to buy gifts of her own to give. Her enthusiasm turns to disappointment when her friends and extended family acknowledge her pouch but don’t give her any eidi. Back at home, as she helps prepare food for the guests of their open house, Sarah feels unsure when Mama explains that things are different in their new community. But one by one, guests arrive with gifts in hand—candy, a box of markers, and more. Afzal allows readers to see the world from Sarah’s perspective as the girl finally understands that there isn’t one single way to celebrate Eid. The youngster rides a roller coaster of emotions as she navigates novel situations—a feeling that will resonate with many children, especially those joining a new community. Delsooz’s brightly colored, exuberantly scribbly illustrations imbue this important Muslim holiday with warmth and excitement. An accompanying glossary and author’s note are welcome support.
A festive tale that teaches valuable lessons of resilience and adaptability. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781771475426
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
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
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