"Drolly creative but lacking frisson. (Picture book. 3-5)"
Little Pea—a light-skinned human being who never gets taller than half the length of a standard pencil—moves from infancy, through school, and into an ideal career for his talent and his size.
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"While some readers may eagerly connect these sights and sensibilities with the Night at the Museum film franchise, this attempt at a rollicking shaggy dog tale will probably occupy urbane, art-loving adults longer than it will their kids. (Picture book. 5-8)"
A boy and his dog encounter dinosaurs and Duchamp on a class trip to the museum.
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"While Abigail's internal process feels believable, there is no condemnation of the bullying, and the resolution with the other children feels forced. (Picture book. 6-8)"
"Fun for a first read but unlikely to have children calling for another. (Picture book. 6-8)"
An answer to the classic first-day-of-school question is unspooled in tall-tale fashion by the white boy with the black unruly hair in the too-small suit first met in I Didn't Do My Homework Because… (2014).
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"A well-traveled premise, but like all of its ilk, a fertile source of inspiration for similarly dilatory students. (Picture book. 6-9)"
In the grand tradition of John Burningham's John Patrick Norman McHennessy, the Boy Who Was Always Late (1987), a tardy lad spins exciting if unlikely excuses to a skeptical teacher.Read full book review >
"Ultimately, 'list' books wear thin, and this is no exception. It will likely be passed around, but repeated readings are not particularly rewarding. (Picture book. 5-9)"
"Though too metaphorical for the very young, middle-grade readers may well tuck away a small piece of this book to save for the future. (Picture book. 8-12)"
War demands an enemy: Two khaki-clad soldiers peer out of holes, torn through the page as if by bullets.
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"The colors are gorgeous and, appropriately, are reminiscent of a Wayne Thiebaud cupcake—chocolate, of course. (Picture book. 2-5)"
Let us stuff our caloric worries away and now praise, in read-aloud voice, chocolate—that giver of happiness and succor and stomachaches.
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Weary of never seeing his working mother after school, a lad imagines building a robotic parent who would make all his favorite foods, do his homework, never tell him to brush and would take care of the odd bully or obnoxious neighbor to boot.
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"Though framed as a tale for emergent readers, this actually has more to say to parents with selective memory who might be disinclined to give their children's preferences sufficient weight. (Picture book. 6-8)"
Thanks to some grandfatherly intervention, young Marcolino avoids the hated piano to practice a more agreeable instrument in this pointed import.
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