A cute and clever autumnal outing with a metafictive twist.
Riffing on the double meaning of the word fall, this tale finds Humpty Dumpty reveling in autumn’s pleasures.
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,” declares an unseen narrator as the giant egg, clad in rust-colored overalls and a yellow shirt, smiles sleepily. Humpty is soon wobbling, and the narrator continues: “Humpty Dumpty had a great…” As the page turns, little ones will grin when the expected tumble doesn’t occur. Instead, our hero gracefully hops off the wall to “take a closer peek at the foliage.” All the while, though, Humpty wonders if there isn’t something else he ought to be doing. But what? He heads home, and an encounter with a fiddling Cat (of “Hey Diddle Diddle” renown) reminds Humpty that it’s time to rake the leaves. The egg man returns to his wall, inspiring several more rounds of the now-familiar formula: the unfinished rhyme, a surprise ending that sees Humpty involved in a new autumnal task, and that nagging sensation that he should be doing something else. Moore and Cleland mine humor from the repetition of the gag as Humpty engages in fall activities such as apple-picking, joined by brown-skinned Jack and Jill, brown-skinned Miss Muffet, and light-skinned, red-haired Bo-Peep, among others. Simple cartoon art sets a wholesome tone and complements the text, which ends with a happy nod to wordplay. Children old enough to recognize nursery rhyme allusions will have a ball.
A cute and clever autumnal outing with a metafictive twist. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9781662527968
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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