A charming kids’ tale that illuminates the rites of Diwali along with its spiritual import.
Animal-headed humans learn the true meaning of the Hindu festival of Diwali in this illustrated holiday fable.
Penamakuru’s winsome children’s book unfolds on an unnamed planet that’s much like India except that it’s inhabited by animal-headed humans. There, Aadi Puli and his wife, Adhvika, a tiger-headed couple, invite over the elephant-headed Subbu Gaja; his wife, Sumati; and their bear-headed friend Jambu Ballu to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. It features lamps, light strings, prayers, fireworks, and feasting. Unfortunately, the frantic preparations stir tensions. Adhvika is dissatisfied with a bronze diyalamp she ordered and chews out the apologetic, gazelle-headed diya-maker Hima Harin over the phone. The light string falls off the roof, and when a kindly monkey-headed stranger named Bolunath “Bolu” Krishnakant remounts it, Sumati is ungrateful for his efforts. Then Aadi and Subbu go shopping and return home with laddoo sweets and clay diyas, bragging about their success in haggling Shyam Lal, a poor, sheep-headed shopkeeper, down to cheap prices. Appalled by their selfishness, Jambu lectures them on the essence of Diwali, which is to spread light to other people—something they have failed to do that day, he notes, through their lack of compassion. The remorseful Pulis and Gajas then seek out Hima, Bolu, and Shyam to make amends, hoping to recapture a glow of good cheer. Penamakuru’s yarn features a sprightly narrative and lively, well-drawn characters; especially entertaining is Mrs. Bagh, a tigress who gloats over Adhvika’s lackluster decor. He steeps readers in Diwali rituals—the book's Hindi vocabulary is explained in a glossary—and delves into the details of everything from henna hand decorations to traditional dishes. (“Dal bati churma, so yummy Rama Rama! Pass me the korma and spare me the drama,” the revelers sing of two delicacies.) Penamakuru’s limpid, plainspoken writing can be drolly funny or quietly poignant. (Visiting Shyam and his granddaughter in their hut, “Aadi…took a diya out of the boxes he bought, looked at Minnu and asked if she wanted to light it. She jumped in excitement and looked at her grandfather. He smiled in return…‘Let there be light,’ said Aadi.” ) Kuba’s black-and-white and color illustrations impart a Disney-esque visual appeal to the story.
A charming kids’ tale that illuminates the rites of Diwali along with its spiritual import.Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2023
ISBN: 9798988528708
Page Count: 108
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone.
A 7-year-old descends into the Land of the Lost in search of his beloved comfort object.
Jack has loved Dur Pig long enough to wear the beanbag toy into tattered shapelessness—which is why, when his angry older stepsister chucks it out the car window on Christmas Eve, he not only throws a titanic tantrum and viciously rejects the titular replacement pig, but resolves to sneak out to find DP. To his amazement, the Christmas Pig offers to guide him to the place where all lost Things go. Whiffs of childhood classics, assembled with admirable professionalism into a jolly adventure story that plays all the right chords, hang about this tale of loss and love. Along with family drama, Rowling stirs in fantasy, allegory, and generous measures of social and political commentary. Pursued by the Land’s cruel and monstrous Loser, Jack and the Christmas Pig pass through territories from the Wastes of the Unlamented, where booger-throwing Bad Habits roam, to the luxurious City of the Missed for encounters with Hope, Happiness, and Power (a choleric king who rejects a vote that doesn’t go his way). A joyful reunion on the Island of the Beloved turns poignant, but Christmas Eve being “a night for miracles and lost causes,” perhaps there’s still a chance (with a little help from Santa) for everything to come right? In both the narrative and Field’s accomplished, soft-focus illustrations, the cast presents White.
Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-79023-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Reads like a grown-up’s over-the-top effort to peddle a set of kid-friendly premises—a notion that worked for the author’s...
A boy asks Santa for a dinosaur and gets a life-changing experience.
Cribbing freely from any number of classic Christmas stories and films, musician/vlogger Fletcher places his 10-year-old protagonist, William, who uses a wheelchair, at the head of an all-white human cast that features his widowed dad, a girl bully, and a maniacal hunter—plus a dinosaur newly hatched from an egg discovered in the North Pole’s ice by Santa’s elves. Having stowed away on Santa’s sleigh, Christmasaurus meets and bonds with William on Christmas Eve, then, fueled by the power of a child’s belief, flies the lad to the North Pole (“It’s somewhere between Imagination and Make-Believe”) for a meeting with the jolly toymaker himself. Upon his return William gets to see the hunter (who turns out to be his uncle) gun down his dad (who survives), blast a plush dinosaur toy to bits, and then with a poster-sized “CRUNCH! GULP!” go down Christmasaurus’ hatch. In the meantime (emphasis on “mean”), after William spots his previously vicious tormenter, Brenda Payne, crying in the bushes, he forgives trespasses that in real life would have had her arrested and confined long ago. Seemingly just for laffs, the author tosses in doggerel-speaking elves (“ ‘If it’s a girl, can we call her Ginny?’ / ‘I think it’s a boy! Look, he’s got a thingy!’ ”) and closes with further lyrics and a list of 10 (secular) things to love about Christmas. Devries adds sugary illustrations or spot art to nearly every spread.
Reads like a grown-up’s over-the-top effort to peddle a set of kid-friendly premises—a notion that worked for the author’s The Dinosaur That Pooped a Planet (2017), but not here. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7330-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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