The crew that brought readers the Gruffalo, Room on a Broom, and even Zog have a new creature to capture our hearts. Stick man just wants to get home to his family tree, but it will be a long journey. The cadence is spot on, the rhymes work. This silly story is sure to be a family holiday favorite.
#Wintergames #teamreadnosereindeer +26 ( )

When Stick Man, who lives with his "Stick Lady Love and their stick children three", is mistaken for an ordinary twig in this humorous rhyming tale, he experiences a series of misadventures that take him far from home. Used by a dog in a game of fetch, by a series of children for such things as a pen or the arm of a snowman, by a swan as part of a next, Stick Man keeps insisting that he is who he is, rather than some sort of inanimate toy or tool. It is only when he crosses paths with Santa Claus that he is recognized as himself, and his wish - to return home - is granted...

Having enjoyed a number of British author Julia Donaldson and German illustrator Axel Scheffler's other rhyming picture-book adventures, from The Gruffalo to Room on a Broom, I picked up this holiday tale with a great deal of pleasant expectation. I was not disappointed, finding the narrative entertaining and the colorful artwork appealing. Stick Man, like so many of this duo's creations, was made for reading aloud, and is sure to amuse young audiences, even as it keeps them on the edge of their seats, wondering whether the eponymous Stick Man will get home in time for Christmas. Recommended to fans of Donaldson and Scheffler, and to anyone looking for fun, lighthearted Christmas (or any other time of the year) picture-book reads. ( )

Rhyming text, repetitive in a fun way that kids will want to join in for with a Christmas twist at the end. ( )

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler have come up with some deeply satisfying characters, like the Gruffalo and the Smartest Giant in Town, but Stick Man seems to self-aware, too tryhardy, trying and failing to be more than a Gingerbread Man knockoff that you can't even eat, but sanguine knowing that if he just repeats his name often enough--"I'm Stick Man, I'm Stick Man, I'M STICK MAN" goes the refrain--he'll fool some small proportion of the large number of kids to whom this book is distributed into thinking he's a cool guy. He's a kleiner pisher trying to pull up his Q-rating by its own bootstraps, and it makes his adventures sort of fundamentally dispiriting even as they're cute and fun. Also I hate it when Santa Claus shows up in shit that he has no right to show up in like he's some kind of everready trumpcard and now you have to have fun, like Kool-Aid Man. Again, it's all marketing. ( )

This gets a 3.5 for the holiday element. ( )