A wisecracking work of nonfiction that will surely be read on re-peat.
Learn fascinating facts about bogs’ functions and the many animals and plants that call them home.
Bogs, often considered swampy and unwelcoming, don’t have the greatest reputation. But this deep dive is so inviting, enlightening, and playful that readers will eagerly soak up the captivating details. Following one year in the life of a bog, it starts with summer rains being “gulped up” by grinning personified peat. While the bog filters water, varied wetland creatures “slip-slide” in. After Hevron chronicles the bustling ecosystem’s expansion, she comes full circle as rain refills the bog once again. She doesn’t miss any chances to communicate information graphically or linguistically, starting with a title page showing a conveniently labeled bog and then seamlessly alternating between single and double-page spreads and comic book–style panels. Gauzy art, made from digitally collaged acrylic, marker and pencil, is anything but murky. Color shifts signify the changing seasons, and the bogs’ inhabitants are adorably charismatic. Critters like beavers, turtles, and wood ducks are fashioned from minimalistic but evocative shapes and feature sunny, arched line faces—even flora, like pitcher plants. A similarly light touch ensures that the text never feels bogged down. It bounds along with springy alliterative phrases (“beaver kits kidded in cattails”) and speech bubbles overflowing with puns and witty one-liners (“I’m likin’ you!” says one gnome lichen to another).
A wisecracking work of nonfiction that will surely be read on re-peat. (more about bogs, author’s note, additional reading, selected sources) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9781665962674
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
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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