Jennie Palmer

Milo the opossum loved watching his town's Christmas parade, and dreamed of creating his own unique float in order to participate. His passel didn't really understand his passion, but decided to support him, as all passels do, helping him to create an adorable possum float. When this float is flattened in the parade, Milo is devastated, until he notices that another float—the one featuring Santa!—has also run into some trouble. Banding together, Santa and the possums carry on, and everyone has a fabulous time in the parade. Milo even gets an invitation to join Santa's float crew, going forward...

Having read and greatly enjoyed author/illustrator Jennie Palmer's picture book debut, The Wompananny Witches Make One Mean Pizza, I was eager to track down this second offering, particularly as I do love Christmas stories. On the whole, I found Milo's Christmas Parade quite sweet, appreciating the heartwarming story (I loved how supportive the passel was!) and the cute artwork. I also appreciated the fact that this is a story that must be close to its creator's heart, given the fact that she has worked as a designer and sculptor for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. All that being said, I don't think this one was quite the equal of the earlier book, from a storytelling perspective. The text felt a little too disjointed, and I didn't think the choice to use asterisks (*) after various statements, with little addendums at the bottom or sides of the pages, quite worked. Despite this critique, this was still a solid second title from Palmer, and I still look forward to seeing what she does next in the picture book form. Recommended to those looking for sweet Christmas stories featuring animal characters.… (plus d'informations)

Anita and Winnifred Whompananny were witches. Kitchen witches, that is, and they made the best pizza around. Unfortunately, the sisters were deathly afraid of the neighborhood children, who struck them as very wild indeed. Frightened by a visit from some of these youngsters, the witches baked all of their negative feelings into a pizza pie so mean, that it began to wreak havoc in the area. As both witches and children chased down that pizza, a surprising discovery was made: witches and children go together like pizza and pepperoni...

It's hard to believe that The Wompananny Witches Make One Mean Pizza is author/illustrator Jennie Palmer's debut picture-book, but so it is. Of course, Palmer does have experience as a designer and sculptor for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and that experience shows here, in the theatrical fun of her first story for children. This was an immensely entertaining romp of a picture-book, with a well-written and amusing story, and engagingly quirky illustrations that suit the oddball tone of the whole production. This is one I would recommend to all young pizza lovers, and to anyone who enjoys witchy tales. For myself, I will be looking forward to Palmer's second contribution to the picture-book form, Milo's Christmas Parade, which is due out later this year.… (plus d'informations)