Though the happy ending is far from hard-won, cat fanciers and dog lovers will be pleased nonetheless.
Pretty pictures and a feel-good plot combine to create a pleasant, if not especially compelling, tale.
Cat, her three kittens, an old dog and an unnamed fisherman make up the cast of characters. Apparently strays, Cat and her family live under a bridge in an urban center (also pictured on the front endpapers). Colorful graffiti on the bridge supports offer greetings in a variety of languages as well as some mild in-jokes. (“Super Frog” is the title of a previous work, “Poppy” and “Scout” are, presumably, the pets to whom the book is dedicated, and other names are probably those of friends or relatives.) The action is straightforward and the tone, conversational. Cat, in search of fish to feed her family, gets trapped in a truck. An old dog ambles along looking for a place to sleep, briefly considers eating the kittens and then decides not to. Cat comes back from her unexpected seaside trip to find that her kittens and the dog have bonded. As always, the illustrations by veteran author-illustrator Foreman are attractive and atmospheric. Soft watercolor washes are particularly effective in the beach scenes (back endpapers included), but even the gritty city offers pink and yellow sunrises and starry blue skies overhead.
Though the happy ending is far from hard-won, cat fanciers and dog lovers will be pleased nonetheless. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-5124-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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