Holly Pond Hill: The Hugs and Kisses Contest - Hardcover

Kortepeter, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525465316 ISBN 13: 9780525465317

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, 2001

Synopsis

In an attempt to discover who their mother loves more, Oliver and Emily have a secret contest to see who can get the most hugs and kisses from her by the end of the day and so they do all they can to get the most attention and recognition.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Wheeler and Kortepeter, who previously collaborated on Tea with Victoria Rose and The Happiest Season of All, create a valentine for parent and child, featuring the rabbit matron Victoria Rose Boxwood and her two children, Oliver and Emily. When sailor-suited Oliver becomes jealous of his mother's affection for his sister, Emily declares, "Whoever gets the most hugs and kisses from Momma before the sun goes down is her favorite child." And the contest begins. Emily has the perfect-child act down pat, but each attempt by Oliver to score points (and thus hugs and kisses) with his mother is comically thwarted: gathering peaches to make a cobbler, he falls out of a tree and sprains his cottontail. "I'm wounded, Mama," he whines, when a friendly rabbit doctor brings him home. Mama, the very picture of turn-of-the-century maternal devotion in her petticoat and bloomers, declares that both children are special. Wheeler's sentimental stylings may not be to everyone's taste, but her meticulous eye for detail and subtle visual verve rescue the pictures from preciousness. Likewise, Kortepeter's narrative glimmers with gentle wit (Emily is characterized by Oliver as "the hug thief"; and when he spots his mother giving her a kiss, "Suddenly it seemed to Oliver as if a dark cloud had crept into his blue sky"). This appealingly old-fashioned-feeling volume features French-fold pages and embossing both within the illustrations and along the margins. Ages 4-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

reSchool-Kindergarten--A contest born out of jealousy is the subject of this book based on the Holly Pond Hill greeting-card line. Oliver, the youngest rabbit in the family, feels certain that his sister is getting all of their parents' attention. He challenges her to a contest in which the rabbit who receives the most hugs and kisses all day long will be clearly proven to be the favorite child. The siblings set out to win their mother's love by doing good deeds for her, but while Emily's efforts always turn out perfectly, Oliver's attempts constantly go awry. Finally, he falls from a ladder and injures himself, causing Emily to confess the scheme to their mother. Even though she says all the right things about loving them equally, Oliver is not satisfied and it seems that he will instigate a new plan the next day. This book is too much of everything-too long and stilted for its intended audience, too detailed in its illustrations, too saccharine, too cluttered. The poor page design includes text and illustration, plus a lilac flowered border and a separate embossed border. This attempt to turn a successful greeting-card line into a children's book is markedly unsuccessful.
Susan Marie Pitard, formerly at Weezie Library for Children, Nantucket Atheneum, MA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0525465316
• ISBN 13: 9780525465317
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 28
• Illustrator: Wheeler Susan