Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!” 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). GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. 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!” 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. 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.
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. Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude. As established in the previous book, Julián and Abuela are Afro-Latinx, and Abuela’s friend and Marisol are also cued Latinx.Ī celebration of weddings and a subtle yet poignant reminder that gender, like love, is expansive. Most of the main characters present Black or have brown skin. Love’s media, applied, as in the previous book, on brown paper, create colors that appear simultaneously soft and vibrant. But never fear, innovative Julián is here! With the help of the fairy house, all’s well that ends well: Marisol’s hat is returned, the brides welcome the pair back, and everyone celebrates love.
Marisol and Gloria have such fun that muddy paws aren’t a thought.until Marisol’s peach-pink dress is covered in paw prints. Later, after Marisol gifts Julián the flower crown, Marisol, Julián, and Gloria run off to the “fairy house,” or weeping willow. Julián and Marisol are part of the wedding, which the text proclaims is “a party for love.” Julián holds the leash of Gloria, the brides’ dog, and Marisol-whose baseball cap has been swapped out for a flower crown-tosses petals. Both meet friends at the wedding: Abuela, a familiar friend, and Julián, a new one, Marisol. Julián and Abuela arrive at an outdoor wedding on a green lawn (discerning eyes will spy the Statue of Liberty in the distance).
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