Review - How to Catch a Yeti

How to Catch a Yeti
by Adam Wallace
illustrated by Andy Elkerton
Date: 2020
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling team comes a new, epic winter adventure in the How to Catch series!

When our brilliant Catch Club Kids hear about the legendary Yeti, they head to the mountains to catch a glimpse and prove it really exists! Full of hilarious high jinks and clever traps, How to Catch a Yeti is a fun-filled ride you wont want to miss! Will our Catch Club Kids catch the Yeti and prove he exists? Or will the Yeti remain a mystery to the world?

Legend has it there lives a beast
we really want to meet.
Hes extra huge with snow-white fur
and giant, fuzzy feet!

I know the Yeti does exist,
and I can prove it too!
And with my friends, well find him fast
before the day is through!

(synopsis from Kobo; see it on Goodreads)

What is wrong with me? I keep reading these books, hoping they'll be better than they are.

In this installment, the rude little brats harass a yeti. They barge into his home, set traps for him, and generally just be a nuisance. Why do they feel entitled to catch all these poor creatures who are just minding their own business?

At the end of this one, the yeti sends the kids a text message telling them how much fun he's had with the chase. I have to wonder if that's in response to other reader feedback that pointed out that barging into a creature's life and trying to trap them is a pretty entitled thing to do.

Anyway, the meter falls apart (despite starting strong) and the illustrations are the same sort of thing we've seen in the other books... although, unlike in How to Catch a Dragon, we weren't treated to the weird anachronistic setting and forced diversity.

If you like this series, you'll probably like this book. If you haven't tried any of these books yet, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this one... or any of the others, for that matter.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.29 out of 5

Review - How to Catch a Dragon

How to Catch a Dragon
by Adam Wallace
illustrated by Andy Elkerton
Date: 2019
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Do you have what it takes to catch a dragon?

The How to Catch kids are off again, this time trying to catch a dragon as they chase him through Chinese New Year celebrations! Set in China during the Spring Festival, otherwise known as Chinese New Year, the wily dragon will have to avoid trap after trap as the kids run through paper lanterns, red envelopes, fireworks, and more! Bonus Mandarin translation included in the back!

Dragons are a clever bunch,
They're difficult to catch.
You'll have to set the ultimate trap--
But have you met your match?

(synopsis from Goodreads)

There's something about these books that makes it really hard for me to like them (even though I really want to). I think it's mainly the meter of the rhyming text. It just doesn't work. And I think I know why:

But this New Year, we're on the watch
to pick up any trail.
Oh wait--is that...? I thought I saw...
It is! A real red DRAGON'S TAIL!

That last line has two syllables too many. And for what? It's a picture book. We can see the red tail. The words "real" and "red" could've been left out, and the verse would've been improved immensely. The meter is like this throughout the book, with random numbers of syllables. I don't really care if the last words rhyme or not; when the meter is this clumsy, it's difficult to read.

An issue I have with this title in particular is the forced diversity. The story appears to be set in China, in an old-fashioned village. The main character is Chinese... but the majority of his friends aren't. The kid states that every year, he and his friends decorate the street for the New Year. Are we to believe that there are a bunch of white, black, and Latinx kids living in a traditional country village in China that appears to have a 19th-century level of technology? (The whole thing almost comes across as a Westerner's idea of China, which is sort of bordering on the offensive.)

I keep hoping that the issues with the meter will be cleared up in these books, but each one I read seems to be exactly the same. There's more to good hymnal quatrains than simply rhyming the last word of the second and fourth lines. The way these are written keeps tripping up my tongue, making me hesitant to want to read them aloud to a child.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Wonderland for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.14 out of 5

Review - How to Catch a Dinosaur

How to Catch a Dinosaur
by Adam Wallace
illustrated by Andy Elkerton
Date: 2019
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Do YOU have what it takes to catch a prehistoric pal?

This newest installment in the New York Times and USA Today bestselling series is sure to delight every dinosaur fan!

Can you catch a dinosaur
and prove they're still around?
Use your brain and set your traps
to get that dino found!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I don't think this series is for me.

I read How to Catch the Easter Bunny last month, and I found it weird and uninspired. What kind of prey gives hunting suggestions to a predator? I figured that may just have been the weirdness of that particular book since it deals with a mythological creature. Unfortunately, even though we're dealing with a real creature here, I didn't like this one much more.

The story this time, rather than being told from the point of view of the dinosaur (as I was expecting, given how that other book was written), is told by a young boy who wants to win the science fair. He thinks that if he can just catch a dinosaur, he might have a chance. The book does point out that dinosaur relatives are still around, and that birds are distant cousins of the "terrible lizards". But then it basically shows an anthropomorphized dinosaur running around a modern neighbourhood. (That blurs the line between reality and fantasy just a little too much for me. While that premise didn't bother me so much in the book about the Easter Bunny, it could be confusing to some kids when they read a book that implies real dinosaurs are still around.)

As for the writing... Oh, dear. The rhyming text is so clunky. Getting the rhythm and meter right must be a tricky thing to do, because I rarely see it done well. It's not done particularly well here at all. You can't just rhyme the last two words of the second and fourth lines and ignore the number of syllables in the rest of the text. At least, you can't if you want it to roll off the tongue.

Overall, this didn't impress me that much. The illustrations are perhaps the strongest part of the book. But the implication that dinosaurs are running around suburbia coupled with the clumsy rhyming text make this a book that I'd have a hard time recommending.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Wonderland for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: 2/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.43 out of 5

Review - How to Catch the Easter Bunny

How to Catch the Easter Bunny
by Adam Wallace
illustrated by Andy Elkerton
Date: 2017
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: library

Is this the year you'll be able to catch the Easter bunny in action? Start an Easter tradition with this fun and funny children's book, from the New York Times bestselling creators of How to Catch a Leprechaun!

"I've been working long and hard with all my peeps and crew. We've made the eggs, and now I'm here to bring them all to you!"

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I'm afraid I don't get it. I know the title of this book is How to Catch the Easter Bunny, but I don't understand why the Easter Bunny himself is detailing all the traps. Is trying to catch the Easter Bunny a thing? That wouldn't even have occurred to my sister and me when we were little. How would he deliver goodies to all the other kids if we caught him? (Maybe greedy little kids who want all the Easter eggs to themselves could go along with this premise. But the idea would have to be planted in their heads first.)

I don't like these books about trying to catch mythological creatures. (I had similar issues with How to Trap a Leprechaun by Sue Fliess and Emma Randall.) It's basically encouraging kidnapping, which I don't think is all that healthy a thing to be teaching. Okay, the rhyme scheme in this one is okay and the pictures are passable... but I just can't wrap my brain around the Easter Bunny suggesting all kinds of ways to trap him. How is that any different from a book with a deer talking about how you could hunt him down?

"You could use a great big rifle
or a trap upon the ground.
If you hear an awful screaming,
then it's me who made that sound."

(from the never-to-be published How to Catch Bambi)

I wasn't impressed. Maybe I should've known better going into this book what I was going to get. Still, I didn't expect the quarry to be giving the suggestions. That's just weird.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.43 out of 5

Review - The Holiday Heroes Save Christmas

The Holiday Heroes Save Christmas
by Adam Wallace
illustrated by Shane Clester
Date: 2018
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

This just in--breaking news from the North Pole!

Santa Claus can't deliver presents on Christmas Eve and he needs backup. But not just anybody can help him--he needs the Holiday Heroes!

This Christmas, it's up to the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, a Witch and a Leprechaun to fill in for Santa and save Christmas.

Can the Holiday Heroes deliver presents without being spotted? Will they be able to pull off Christmas in the end?

(synopsis from Goodreads)

To begin with, the cover is misleading. Santa is out of the picture for most of the book, and he's not the one who saves Christmas. His case of the sniffles is actually what puts Christmas in jeopardy. It's all the other mythological holiday characters (the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, a Witch, and a Leprechaun) who try to save Christmas. Of course, they mess it up on the first try. At one point, the Witch turns the cookies left out for Santa into giant spiders! That could scare the crap out of some kids who have that particular fear (I know I probably would've been fretting about a witch replacing Santa and leaving a plate of spiders behind when I was little).

The illustrations are in a sort of retro style (similar to that in Who Likes Christmas?, which was also illustrated by Clester). They're okay, but nothing special.

I also didn't like the ending, which implies that Santa won't be delivering presents next year, either. Maybe Santa just wanted his Heroes prepared in case he got sick again, but that wasn't made clear, and could potentially confuse some kids. Why is Santa suddenly pawning his job off on others?

Pretty much the only thing I like about this book are the little bios on all the characters that are tacked on at the beginning and end of the text. They're imaginative and amusing. It's too bad the story in between is so weak. (Has Santa really never gotten sick before in 1,200 years? Why is he sick this year? Inquiring little minds are going to want to know.)

I'd skip this one. It doesn't really add anything new to the Christmas mythos, and could potentially cause confusion or concern for children who are used to the traditional Santa Claus story.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.33 out of 5

Review - Only You Can Save Christmas!

Only You Can Save Christmas!
by Adam Wallace
illustrated by Garth Bruner
Date: 2017
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: library

It's Christmas Eve, and Santa needs YOUR help in this fun, interactive picture book from the New York Times bestselling author of How to Catch an Elf!

It's Christmas Eve, and everything at the North Pole is going according to plan...until an elf discovers that Santa doesn't have a present ready for Mrs. Claus! Time is running out, and you're the only one who can help. But you'll have to honk, whistle, wiggle, and shake to make things turn out all right.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This book has a similar premise to Bill Cotter's Don't Push the Button! series. But, in this case, the main character is a rather stupid elf who's obviously never heard the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and mistakes it for Santa's shopping list for his wife. That's only the beginning of the flawed premise. There's a big rush to collect all the presents because Santa's sleigh is leaving in fifteen minutes. Now, wait a minute; why do presents for Mrs. Claus need to be on Santa's sleigh in the first place? Doesn't she live at the North Pole with Santa? So he's just going to haul those gifts all over the world for no reason?

Some of the pictures are cute (I got a kick out of the calling--sorry, texting birds), but others are a bit disturbing. When Wink the elf couldn't find turtle doves, he found turtles instead, and rode them back to the sleigh while standing on their backs. They were both wearing metal collars with ropes, and one had its tongue hanging out like it was choking. I have no idea what that was doing in a children's book.

Finding the French hens, however, was what really turned me off. Wink tells us that "wee" means "yes" in French, so he asks kids to shout "wee wee wee wee wee wee" to find some French hens. I get that this is phonetic, but it's going to be insulting to French speakers to have that word equated with pee. (Plus, it basically makes the book suitable only for American children. French is widely spoken around the world, including here in Canada. I can tell you that if we, as kids, came across a book that told us that "wee" means "yes", we would've been the first to call it out. Use the correct spelling, or find a different way to find the French hens, please.)

Immediately after this, I read Don't Push the Button!: A Christmas Adventure, and while that story is much simpler, I thought it was the better of the two books (especially if you're already a fan of the Don't Push the Button! series). I'd recommend giving Only You Can Save Christmas! a pass.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 1/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 1.67 out of 5