Many books into this series, Willan has the funny/adorable/touching balancing act down pat.
The Worst! series resumes with Gilbert grudgingly caring for a monster.
In previous books, fussy mint-green goblin Gilbert had to contend with elves, mermaids, and other creatures. This time around, a cute little pink-and-purple monster has made his way into Gilbert’s house. Directly addressing readers, Gilbert opens up about the situation via dialogue bubbles and a chalkboard presentation (e.g., “He might try to eat my tacos”); the monster proceeds to eat the chalkboard, essentially proving Gilbert’s anti-monster point. Some period of monster-minding agitation later, Gilbert sees a flyer in the woods asking for the monster’s return. To Gilbert’s surprise, doing the right thing—relinquishing the creature—is difficult: Gilbert has grown fond of the scamp. There’s something sweet here about how beneath someone’s annoying qualities, there may lie some good ones, but Willan doesn’t stoop to spelling this out. His cartoony digital art, in which the monster and his family resemble Kool-Aid–colored plush toys, does a lot of the talking. The book’s best visual gag takes place during one of Gilbert and the monster’s pickle-roast reunions: As the monster, who has gotten larger throughout the course of the book, is pinning a supine Gilbert to the forest floor, the gratified goblin notes that “he still insists on sitting on my lap.”
Many books into this series, Willan has the funny/adorable/touching balancing act down pat. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781665988599
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn.
A young owl achieves his grand ambition.
Owl, an adorably earnest and gallant little owlet, dreams of being a knight. He imagines himself defeating dragons and winning favor far and wide through his brave exploits. When a record number of knights go missing, Owl applies to Knight School and is surprisingly accepted. He is much smaller than the other knights-in-training, struggles to wield weapons, and has “a habit of nodding off during the day.” Nevertheless, he graduates and is assigned to the Knight Night Watch. While patrolling the castle walls one night, a hungry dragon shows up and Owl must use his wits to avoid meeting a terrible end. The result is both humorous and heartwarming, offering an affirmation of courage and clear thinking no matter one’s size…and demonstrating the power of a midnight snack. The story never directly addresses the question of the missing knights, but it is hinted that they became the dragon’s fodder, leaving readers to question Owl’s decision to befriend the beast. Humor is supplied by the characters’ facial expressions and accented by the fact that Owl is the only animal in his order of big, burly human knights. Denise’s accomplished digital illustrations—many of which are full bleeds—often use a warm sepia palette that evokes a feeling of antiquity, and some spreads feature a pleasing play of chiaroscuro that creates suspense and drama.
A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-31062-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
A surprisingly nuanced lesson set in confidence-building, easy-to-decode text.
A unicorn learns a friendship lesson in this chapter-book series opener.
Unicorn Bo has friends but longs for a “bestie.” Luckily, a new unicorn pops into existence (literally: Unicorns appear on especially starry nights) and joins Bo at the Sparklegrove School for Unicorns, where they study things like unicorn magic. Each unicorn has a special power; Bo’s is granting wishes. Not knowing what his own might be distresses new unicorn Sunny. When the week’s assignment is to earn a patch by using their unicorn powers to help someone, Bo hopes Sunny will wish to know Bo's power (enabling both unicorns to complete the task, and besides, Bo enjoys Sunny’s company and wants to help him). But when the words come out wrong, Sunny thinks Bo was feigning friendship to get to grant a wish and earn a patch, setting up a fairly sophisticated conflict. Bo makes things up to Sunny, and then—with the unicorns friends again and no longer trying to force their powers—arising circumstances enable them to earn their patches. The cheerful illustrations feature a sherbet palette, using patterns for texture; on busy pages with background colors similar to the characters’ color schemes, this combines with the absence of outlines to make discerning some individual characters a challenge. The format, familiar to readers of Elliott’s Owl Diaries series, uses large print and speech bubbles to keep pages to a manageable amount of text.
A surprisingly nuanced lesson set in confidence-building, easy-to-decode text. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-32332-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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