★ "You better watch out for this excellent early reader." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ “Barnett works wonders with a limited vocabulary, packing the stories with humor, tension—and admonishments of Jack. Pizzoli’s scruffy-edged, emotive cartoons are just as funny, and he carries the comedy into drawing lessons and closing endpapers.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "Jack is a rule-proof bundle of bunny-eared id who does as he pleases, and therein lies his considerable charm.” –BCCB, starred review

★ 2020-08-18
Jack is back, and he’s on Santa’s “BAD list.”

Barnett and Pizzoli’s rascally rabbit Jack returns in a seventh title in their early-reader series. This time, readers discover that while the Lady and Rex the dog (with whom Jack lives) are on the nice list, Jack is on Santa’s naughty list. (In deference to emergent readers’ skills, the text labels these the “GOOD” and “BAD” lists.) There’s also another list in this story—Jack’s wish list, which spills over from one page onto the next two. “Oh boy. That’s a long list,” reads the wry text, which then goes on to speculate as to whether Jack will receive anything but coal. The story that ensues is well paced and accessible to new readers, its brief chapters cleverly interrogating the very premise that anyone might be wholly good or bad. Barnett’s textual restraint allows Pizzoli to ramp up the humor as pictures highlight just how bad Jack has been—and how good. The result is a humane and humorous secular Christmas story that offers the gift of supporting readers’ burgeoning decoding abilities with a well-developed, comical story. Both the Lady and Santa present White. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-13-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

You better watch out for this excellent early reader. (Early reader. 5-8)