We were all strangers, once, so howdy, stranger.
The arrival of a stranger—“the Thing”—roils the placid waters of Edmond the Squirrel and George Owl’s day.
This kid-sized narrative touches on Ryszard Kapuscynski’s notion of “the Other.” Edmond the Squirrel and his friend George Owl are down by the stream gathering feathers, moss, twigs, and pine cones. The still air is broken by a strange sound: “SKRAWK.” They look up and see a…well, a Thing: a small haystack of pink fur. Doesn’t matter that the Thing looks like a plush toy, it gives Edmond and George the collywobbles (“This is clearly a very dangerous Thing,” hoots George), and they beat a retreat. Back at Edmond’s, they gorge on green cookies to muster their bravery, which brings out the worst in Edmond. He paints a sign of the Thing’s image with a big X through it and plants it streamside. Desbordes does not soften the unfortunate turns of xenophobia. George wakes the next day still abuzz with the bravery of the green cookies and decides to see if the Thing is still there, but not before disguising himself in a cloak of moss, a chanterelle for a nose, and white pine ear tuffs. He scares the bejesus out of his friends, including Edmond—but not, critically, the Thing. And what sparks friendship? A cookie, the universal language.
We were all strangers, once, so howdy, stranger. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-59270-217-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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