Droll humor, an unusual design, and an appealing main character add up to a funny addition to the canon of canines adjusting...
A pampered Chihuahua gradually realizes its owners are preparing for an impending arrival in the family.
Little Louie enjoys a pleasant, predictable life with Mom and Dad, who are white, as they meet the pup’s every need. Louie eats at the table with them, sleeps in their bed, and enjoys being at the center of their attention. Things begin to change with the visits of friends with babies, and then Mom begins to grow visibly larger in the belly region. New purchases are made, with matching sets of each item, such as little beds, sweaters, and hats. When Louie spies a double stroller, the conclusion seems inevitable: twins must be on the way. After an unsuccessful attempt at running away, Louie is pleased to meet just one new “baby brother.” In the final scene, Louie and the baby are shown together in the stroller wearing matching hats and sweaters. Fluid, line-and-color illustrations in pencil and watercolor use a sophisticated palette of gray or white backgrounds with minimal color accents. An extra-large trim size allows for a pleasing variety of illustration perspectives, including two huge, double-page spreads with laugh-out-loud views of Louie being kicked by the then–in utero baby and imagining the arrival of twins. Fucile’s background as a feature film animator is evident in the comedic pacing and polished, understated composition of scenic constructions.
Droll humor, an unusual design, and an appealing main character add up to a funny addition to the canon of canines adjusting to new babies. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5828-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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