When, When, When will it be Christmas?

by Cathy MacLennan

Overview

Look—what do you see? Red, red berries, and a green, green tree. Ballerina mice frosting a snowy white cake, and pretty wrapping, bows, and tape. All the signs are in the air—it's almost that time of year. But when, when, when will Christmas be here? Come celebrate with this festive picture book from Cathy MacLennan. It's all dressed up in bright Christmas colors and filled with rhythm and rhyme to create the happiest holiday experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781907152276
Publisher:	Boxer Books
Publication date:	10/07/2014
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 12.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Born in Zimbabwe, Cathy MacLennan is inspired by African art and culture. Textures, bold colors, movements, and unusual surfaces are hallmarks of her work. Her books—which include Chicky Chicky Chook Chook; Bunny, Bunny Catkin; and Spooky Spooky Spooky! (all Boxer)—-have been nominated for many awards, including the Kate Greenaway Medal. Cathy lives in Reading, England, with her husband and two sons.

Editorial Reviews

09/15/2014
A frenetic, scattered energy drives MacLennan’s poem, which begins by celebrating holiday reds, whites, and greens before moving on to drum up excitement for decorating, present-wrapping, and a Christmas pageant: “Christmas stories and Christmas songs!/ Costumes! Scenes! And lights!/ A roll of the drum,/ And onto the stage... they come!/ What a spectacular Christmas show!” MacLennan’s characters include white mice in pink tutus, kittens, reindeer with holiday lights swirling around their antlers, and a multicultural crew of children. Her smudgy figures prance across solid backdrops, the bright palette dialing up the energy and sense of anticipation even more. It’s a lot of buildup, but the festivities of the final pages (“We’ve waited and waited and waited./ And... It’s the best Christmas ever!”) don’t disappoint. Ages 2–5. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

A slight, rather confusing Christmas story about a group of children in costume performing a Christmas pageant.

The first few pages show groups of animals engaged in different activities to prepare for Christmas. Tiny red birds decorate a huge, red bow with sprigs of holly, and mice in pink tutus cut snowflakes out of paper and then frost a white cake with mouse snowmen on top. Six striped cats frolic through a forest together and select a Christmas tree, reindeer hang Christmas lights, and a group of rabbits wraps lots of presents. Then the action abruptly shifts to a Christmas pageant, with costumed children who are dressed as the animals from the previous pages. The children all sleep in their own beds (shown all in a long row) for Christmas Eve night, then reappear in costume to celebrate on Christmas Day. The text relies on repeated adjectives, the titular refrain, and lots of jolly language and exclamation marks, but there isn’t much of a plot. The illustrations in acrylic paints are appealing, with a cast of multiethnic children and clever details in costumes and the group bedtime scene. There are some logical lapses between art and text, as in the illustration of pink-clad gray mice facing text that describes “white, white mice” and another that fails to depict rabbits in the pageant cast.

A pleasant but forgettable effort. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews