Is This... Winter?
Helen Yoon. Candlewick, $10.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5362-2627-0
Throughout this exuberant kickoff to the Is This...? series, Yoon portrays an amusing dog’s-eye view of Christmas season novelties—yard ornaments. Pulling against a red leash, a small brown pooch in a yellow scarf bounds across a snowy landscape, greeting everything that has a face. “High five! It’s winter!” the rambunctious pup gleefully announces to birds, a painted mailbox, and a squirrel. After a catastrophic collision with a snowperson (“Where’d you—go...?”), the pup encounters holiday yard decorations, much to its confusion. (Addressing a light-up Rudolph, the hound invites, “Would you like to sniff my butt?”) Amid an extravaganza of candy-colored decor, a giant blow-up Santa emanates a “Ho Ho Ho” that sends the protagonist hiding. Employing mixed-media techniques and comic perspectives, Yoon presents the wide-eyed subject’s boisterous personality with confident sketches that capture the small dog’s outsize holiday energy. Ages 3–7. (Sept.)
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Reviewed on: 08/24/2023
Genre: Children's