Publishers Weekly
09/24/2018
In a riff on “The 12 Days of Christmas,” Pete the Cat celebrates the holiday in his usual nonplussed fashion. For each day, Pete gives gifts to his friends, including previously appearing characters. The first gift sets the stage: “On the first day of Christmas/ Pete gave to me... a road trip to the sea. Groovy!” One by one, the animal friends load into Pete’s yellow bus. Pete gifts his friends with “four far-out surf boards,” “eight guitars strumming,” and even “five onion rings”—all packed into or precariously stacked atop the bus. The book concludes on the 12th day, with a musical beach party. Though the lyrics aren’t quite as smooth as Pete himself, the Christmas road trip is a “rockin’ ” diversion. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)
Kirkus Reviews
2018-08-20
Pete, the cat who couldn't care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren't part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete's shtick might have a hard time arriving at "groovy" to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean's now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: "On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!" The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives "me" (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) "2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!" On the third day, he gives "me" (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) "3 yummy cupcakes," etc. The "me" mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with "4 far-out surfboards" (a frog), "5 onion rings" (crocodile), and "6 skateboards rolling" (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it's all "GROOVY!"
Pete's fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other "12 Days of Christmas" variants to choose among. (Picture book. 4-8)
