A tale likely to strike a chord with fans of the unconventional.
After a fall down a well, a little goat saves herself with her tenacity and her song.
With brilliantly saturated colors, showy full-bleed illustrations, and evocative depictions of music, this tale looks incredibly inviting, and its ungulate protagonist makes an undeniably appealing first impression. But wherever readers think this cheerful-looking story might go, they’re probably wrong. Sure, a note promising a happy ending hints that there might be darkness along the way, but most readers will have no clue what they’re in for. Little Goat irritates the neighbors with her enthusiastic climbing and caterwauling. After she falls into a deep well with no clear path for rescue, the neighbors decide to skip the pleasantries and give her a “decent burial.” (“It’s sad, but she was pretty annoying,” they reason.) As they begin shoveling dirt, Little Goat, showcasing surely the most incredulous goat face in kid lit history, persists. She sings to encourage herself to “shake it off. Pack it under” until she rises from the hole; the neighbors now gaze at her in admiration. Readers learn little about the protagonist beyond her quirks; Little Goat is a bit of a one-note character. But the narration is agreeably conversational, and children will root for Little Goat as she uses traits perceived as faults to save herself.
A tale likely to strike a chord with fans of the unconventional. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9780525517115
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 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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