This doggy dancer will warm hearts (and incite a few giggles).
Will Biff get the part he really wants?
Biff isn’t like the other canines. Don’t expect him to fetch and roll over. He’d prefer to don his leg warmers, head to ballet class with his human, and plie to his heart’s content. When the class learns that they’ll perform The Nutcracker, Biff sets his sights on playing the Sugar Plum Fairy. He wants that sparkling tiara and the dazzling tutu. Sadly, he and his human are cast as bonbons. Biff mopes for days. Even watching dancing on TV doesn’t cheer him up. His human tries to practice alone, but it isn’t nearly as much fun. But at last Biff rallies, and they practice and perfect the dance of the bonbons. On opening night, the Sugar Plum Fairy is sick (too many sugar plums, it seems), so Miss Polly asks Biff to step in. His little human urges him to take his dream part, but Biff shakes his head; he and his human are the best bonbons in the box. Both a sweet friendship tale and an excellent encapsulation of the adage that there are no small parts, Kemp’s addition to the Nutcracker canon is, like Biff, wholly original. Ogilvie’s light, airy illustrations are a strong match for the text, bringing the story to life with grace and a bit of silliness. Biff’s human is pale-skinned; the cast is diverse.
This doggy dancer will warm hearts (and incite a few giggles). (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781665981033
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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