An amusingly absurd adventure that shines starlight on empathy and friendship.
Hopper and Wilson, two stitched-up, stuffed toys (an elephant and a mouse), sit on their dock with their pet cactus looking at the stars and decide to bring one home for a night light.
With their paper airplane flight-ready, filled up with lemonade for fuel, they blast off. Adult readers might scratch their heads, baffled, but most children will drift along with the velvety narration, nodding, eager to join the two buddies up there amid the constellations. Familiarity with their first far-fetched adventure, Hopper and Wilson (2011), might make the first few moments of this journey less bumpy. Soft watercolors ease readers right into their celestial trip, however, mapping a starry sky through full-bleed saturations of dark blues and plum purples, dotted with twinkling whites and citrus-y yellows. Paper textures surface occasionally when the watercolors thin out, adding varying depths and a cirrus quality to the outer-space atmosphere. A walk to the dark side of the moon brings an acutely frightening moment for both Wilson and any sensitive reader who’s been lost. Luckily, the buddies’ special star, the one they planned to take home, helps orient the little guy and direct him back to his friend. His tiny, mousy voice, Hopper’s huge, comforting hug and all that bruised blackness make their reunion poignant and personal.
An amusingly absurd adventure that shines starlight on empathy and friendship. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25772-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
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. 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. / 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. 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!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. 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). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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