Zoomer's Out-of-This-World Christmas by Ned Young

-



Part of the reason that I don't review holiday books on an annual basis, despite the plethora published every year, is because it's extremely hard to tell a good Christmas story, probably because there are so few themes to explore when writing in this genre. So, in this field where it seems like it's all been done before, taking the themes of giving and sacrificing in the spirit of the holiday and presenting them in a creative, visually stunning way, reading a book like Zoomer's Out-of-This-World Christmas is so refreshing! Zoomer's Out-of-This-World Christmas is Ned Young's third installment in this series, making it even more remarkable since most series seem to wear out their thematic charms by book two. Zoomer is a wildly imaginative dog who, along with his older twin brothers Hooper and Cooper, make Phineas & Ferb look like amateurs. While Young's stories are hugely entertaining, what I love most are his painterly illustrations that are just a little bit cartoonish. Page for page, you will definitely get your money's worth when you purchase any of the Zoomer books (see below for other titles).


In Zoomer's Out-of-This-World Christmas it's Christmas Eve and the brothers are up in their treehouse, telescope set and ready to spot Santa as he flies across the sky.



While his brothers are giving him a hard time about the pretend antlers that Zoomer has taped to his cap, they are startled by a loud BOOM in the backyard.


When Zoomer, Cooper and Hooper try to tell their dad about the spaceship in the backyard, he shakes his head wondering where they come up with this stuff. This illustration above is one of my favorite from Zoomer's Out-of-This-World Christmas. It captures Young's painterly style as well as his scope, adding so much to the story being told and making the reader all the more excited to enter Zoomer's world.



The brothers grab their preferred forms of transportation and head out to see what made the noise, thinking that they will see Santa and his sleigh. Instead, they get quite a surprise. What follows are 14 pages of fun and games with the alien kids and the dogs as the space dad attempts to fix the broken spaceship. Young comes up with all sorts of cool alien words for everything from food to sports  to greetings. Besides the alien version of soccer, space mom sets up a force-field swimming pool filled with alien creatures and spaceship-submarines. The illustrations for these alien visitation pages are SO COOL and I wish I had images to share with you here. Be assured, Young's alien family, their pets and their belongings are all colorful, friendly and incredibly imaginative. However, I especially like the robots that Young portrays - both alien and toy. As the story comes to an end, Zoomer has made a generous gift to the aliens in order to help them get home, noted by his older brother, and in turn is rewarded on Christmas morning.



Don't miss Ned Young's other fantastic Zoomer books





Source: Review Copy

Popular posts from this blog

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala

-
Image
Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala Review Copy from Abrams Kids I picture-walked Be a Tree! three times before I actually read the words. Felicita Sala's illustrations for Maria Gianferrari's poetic text are mesmerizingly immersive and richly colorful within a palette of earth tones. Throughout the text, Gianferrari, who shares her inspiration for this book in the author's note ( Peter Wohleben's The Hidden Life of Trees ), gently maintains the human connection to trees and the connections (and communications) trees share with each other.  Be a Tree!  begins exuberantly, inviting the reader to "Be a tree! Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun. Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you." From your spine/trunk to your skin/bark and your heart/pith, the words carry you inward and then zoom outward and up to the canopy and ultimately, the forest. "You are one of many trees," and our roots "twine with fung
Read more

Under Earth, Under Water by Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel Mizieliński, 112 pp, RL: ALL AGES

-
Image
Under Earth , Under Water by Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel  Mizieliński is their fourth book I have reviewed here and their fourth book with the marvelous Big Picture Press , a publisher of oversized, highly illustrated, gorgeous books who believe that books should be "visually intelligent, surprising, and accessible to readers of all ages, abilities and nationalities." BPP definitely achieves this with every book they publish and, if you are a book lover, you will want to seek out all their titles. Under Earth , Under Water will appeal to anyone who likes to look inside things and understand how things work. With Under Earth, Under Water , the Mizielińskis, who have an illustration style that is filled with tiny details and a unique palette, take readers on a detailed journey, from the top of the page to the bottom, over and under land and then sea. The endpapers serve as the introduction and table of contents, with images scattered across the spread, page nu
Read more

Fox + Chick: The Sleepover and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

-
Image
Fox + Chick : The Sleepover and Other Stories  by Sergio Ruzzier Review Copy from Chronicle Books Friends. Opposites. Inhabitants of a pastel-hued, water color world that is vaguely surreal, Fox and Chick are back for a third installment of their inviting, if curious, easy-to-read stories. In "The Sleepover," "The Hammer," and "The Surprise," Chick's odd logic is once again upending Fox's life. Happily, Fox responds with patience and even wisdom at times. To these unforgettable characters and luminous illustrations, Ruzzier brings a sublime simplicity that makes this series perfect for emerging readers, adding books with character and intelligence to the often dull world of beginning reader books. If you aren't familiar with this delightful duo, definitely check out my reviews of the first two books (links below) where I put the greatness of Ruzzier's work into historical ( Frog & Toad ) context. Then check out ALL of Ruzzier's p
Read more