For readers older than those of Howard's Chita's Christmas Tree (p. 990/C-166), another vivid account of the holiday as celebrated by a black family in comfortable circumstances years ago—in this case, in 1890 Ohio. Hamilton uses well-researched, lovingly re-created details and deceptively simple, totally unclichéd language to describe the Bells: Papa, who runs a successful carpentry business with his older sons; Mama, a fine seamstress; little Melissy; and 12-year-old narrator Jason, who can barely wait for Christmas and the coming of the other Bells—Uncle Levi and his family. Splendid homemade gifts (including a new mechanical leg, custommade by his brother, to replace Papa's peg leg), food, and the celebration at church are all portrayed in telling detail; but most significant is this family's memorable joy at being together, and their pride in their 100-year tradition in this place alongside the fascinating, historic National Road. Davis' carefully crafted paintings with their sculptural figures and well-furnished interiors reflect the story's strong sense of stability and security. Perhaps as a result, though, they are stolid rather than lively; and when the yearned-for snow finally comes, Davis' depiction of it is greeting-card conventional—unlike Hamilton's lovely description of "the great white night" when lights from the house shone in "patches of gold [that] made the lane sparkle." An excellent addition to the author's fine oeuvre; a good readaloud.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1989
ISBN: 0152015507
Page Count: 68
Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1989
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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Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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