This series keeps rolling along, delivering just what fans want.
The beloved Construction Site team gives a neighborhood a restorative facelift.
This time Bulldozer, Dump Truck, and company are confronted with a job that’s not quite in their wheelhouse. Instead of demolishing and building afresh, they’re going to renovate a suburban neighborhood that’s fallen into disrepair. What to do with the “heaps of rubbish” and “junk piles everywhere”? The usual crew calls for help, and soon an array of specialists parade in: Roll Off Truck, Container Delivery Truck, Flatbed, Skid Steer, Side Loaders, Rear Loaders, Front Loaders, and Garbage Trucks. Their arrival is prefaced by their aroma (they are the Garbage Crew, after all), but still they’re “a fleet of heroes!” Our old Construction Site friends help sort the mounds of accumulated trash for recycling or composting, and the Garbage Crew hauls it away. Cooperation is the instinctive rule; everyone does their part. While the removal is underway, construction begins: The Construction Crew installs new windows and doors, plants trees, and paves streets. Some trucks are given male or female pronouns, but they don’t have external gender signifiers. The verse is still propulsive, with a few gear shifts but no stalling, and detailed illustrations by series regular Ford have an old-fashioned charm. One fascinating cross-section of a garbage truck lets readers glimpse its internal workings. Still going strong more than a decade after they made their debut, these vehicles never run out of oomph.
This series keeps rolling along, delivering just what fans want. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781797226552
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
Sure to have little ones giggling.
Jacques is a hedgehog with a big secret: “I wear real, bona fide underwear.”
Our narrator received a mysterious package one day; an illustration shows a pair of underwear tied to a balloon with a note “from the Universe” floating down into Jacques’ burrow. Hedgehogs don’t wear underwear, however. Will Jacques be shunned? Jacques worries but comes to a decision: “I have to wear them. When I do I feel special.” Determined, Jacques, who’s been invited to a party, makes a dramatic entrance, with undies in hand. Jacques’ declaration (“I WEAR UNDERWEAR”) is met with remarks of dismay, before another hedgehog opens up about similar fears and shows off a pair of cowboy boots. More hedgehogs introduce themselves with their own confessions. The story ends with Jacques unveiling a painting of the underwear in a gallery filled with hedgehogs wearing all sorts of attire. Though the book is simple in plot, characters, and setting, it wins in its balance of bathroom humor, dramatic storytelling, and celebrations of individual expression. French words are peppered throughout, adding to the fun without detracting from the story for those unfamiliar with the language. The cartoonish illustrations brim with fun; Valdez relies heavily on geometric shapes (triangle noses for the hedgehogs; huge circles for their eyes). Details such as speech bubbles and recurring turtle and snake characters contribute to the outlandish humor.
Sure to have little ones giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781250814388
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance.
A boy with wings learns to be himself and inspires others like him to soar, too.
Norman, a “perfectly normal” boy, never dreamed he might grow wings. Afraid of what his parents might say, he hides his new wings under a big, stuffy coat. Although the coat hides his wings from the world, Norman no longer finds joy in bathtime, playing at the park, swimming, or birthday parties. With the gentle encouragement of his parents, who see his sadness, Norman finds the courage to come out of hiding and soar. Percival (The Magic Looking Glass, 2017, etc.) depicts Norman with light skin and dark hair. Black-and-white illustrations show his father with dark skin and hair and his mother as white. The contrast of black-and-white illustrations with splashes of bright color complements the story’s theme. While Norman tries to be “normal,” the world and people around him look black and gray, but his coat stands out in yellow. Birds pop from the page in pink, green, and blue, emphasizing the joy and beauty of flying free. The final spread, full of bright color and multiracial children in flight, sets the mood for Norman’s realization on the last page that there is “no such thing as perfectly normal,” but he can be “perfectly Norman.”
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-785-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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