The hunt for the perfect abode is the premise for this romp through the world of nursery rhymes. The little old woman and her many children are definitely feeling the pinch in the toe of the shoe they live in. From Little Jack Horner’s coat and Miss Muffet’s teacup, to a sock hanging from a grandfather clock and a tub, the family attempts to find a home that will accommodate their number—a place that is stationary, not too loud, not too small, and not already occupied. As they quickly discover, this is not too easy to find in Mother Goose’s world. Old Mother Hubbard snatches their glass jar and puts it in her cupboard, and the demise of an egg brings all the king’s horses and men to one of their trial homes. Finally, as the family is literally squeezed out of a vest pocket and shot into a boot, they realize that their old home was more spacious than this one. “If the shoe fits, then wear it.” So, “She gave them some broth and kissed all their faces, / Then tucked them in bed and tied up the laces.” Jackson (I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie, not reviewed, etc.) retains the rhyming pattern of The Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe throughout the family’s adventures, providing stability to their leaps around the various tales. Young readers will delight in identifying the many different nursery rhymes, and the author/illustrator team has given just enough clues for them to be able to do this with ease. Firehammer’s (The Flea’s Sneeze, 2000) characters have charmingly simple faces, round cheeks, and stubby bodies. Pastel colors and barely hidden details fit the realm of nursery rhyme books perfectly. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6466-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A bit predictable but pleasantly illustrated.
Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault’s classic alphabet book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989) gets the Halloween treatment.
Chung follows the original formula to the letter. In alphabetical order, each letter climbs to the top of a tree. They are knocked back to the ground in a jumble before climbing up in sequence again. In homage to the spooky holiday theme, they scale a “creaky old tree,” and a ghostly jump scare causes the pileup. The chunky, colorful art is instantly recognizable. The charmingly costumed letters (“H swings a tail. / I wears a patch. J and K don / bows that don’t match”) are set against a dark backdrop, framed by pages with orange or purple borders. The spreads feature spiderwebs and jack-o’-lanterns. The familiar rhyme cadence is marred by the occasional clunky or awkward phrase; in particular, the adapted refrain of “Chicka chicka tricka treat” offers tongue-twisting fun, but it’s repeatedly followed by the disappointing half-rhyme “Everybody sneaka sneak.” Even this odd construction feels shoehorned into place, since “sneaking” makes little sense when every character in the book is climbing together. The final line of the book ends on a more satisfying note, with “Everybody—time to eat!”
A bit predictable but pleasantly illustrated. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781665954785
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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
BOOK REVIEW
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