A vibrant, enriching tale that kids will love.
Calder and Quiel present an engaging, educational and beautifully illustrated story about two monarch butterflies.
The story follows a little girl named Bonnie as she watches monarch butterflies—which she playfully calls airplanes—in her family’s garden. Her mother shows her a place where a butterfly has laid eggs. Bonnie watches the eggs until they hatch, then follows two caterpillars, whom she names Sergio and Stanley, as they grow and change into butterflies. The narrative elegantly teaches the process of metamorphosis from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. Bonnie shares her childlike joy and observations with her parents, promoting curiosity and family togetherness. The pages are packed with fanciful, whimsical watercolors of butterflies, caterpillars, flowers, children and garden life. The illustrations colorfully supplement and enhance the tale, which is a fitting read-aloud for parents and children. Simple enough for a confident young reader, the book would facilitate a fun science lesson for the first- or second-grade classroom. The clear writing explains complex ideas in kid-friendly ways, and the parent-child dialogue is believable. The ideas and writing are too advanced for preschoolers, but they’ll love the pictures anyway. Calder is a horticulturist and garden designer who shares her knowledge well with young readers, who’ll enjoy Quiel’s award-winning artistic style. Backmatter includes information and maps about monarch migration, more monarch facts, web resources and directions to make your own butterfly garden. This section will help parents and teachers further engage kids in backyard nature.
A vibrant, enriching tale that kids will love.Pub Date: May 28, 2011
ISBN: 978-0983296218
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Patio Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
