A cheery tale that highlights the importance of friendship, confidence, and working together.
Learning how to do your best can be complicated—and fun!
Sam, bespectacled and earnest, loves all of the celebrations—Pajama Day, Silly Hat Day, Super Sports-Fan Day, Space Travel Day—his class observes at school. But even though his teacher points out that it’s not a competition, it always seems to Sam that someone else’s outfit or offering is better than his. Schoenbrun’s appealing, cartoonlike illustrations feature a multiracial group of students enjoying school while Vernick’s straightforward text delivers the story clearly with gentle humor. When Take Your Octopus to School Day rolls around and it’s time for Sam to unveil his pet octopus, Thurgood, in his tank, he waits for oohs and aahs from his fellow students—and is shocked to find that his tank appears empty! Where could Thurgood be? Is there anyone in class who can help? Perhaps there is someone else who knows something about undersea creatures as well? There is: a boy named Caleb who has a pet squid, as it happens. This quirky tale of pet ownership focuses on social-emotional skills such as resilience, healthy competition, and cooperation while remaining light and entertaining and introducing the concept of camouflage as well (Thurgood is hiding in there somewhere!). Clearly, there will have to be a Camouflage Day next. But how will they see who the winner is? Sam presents white and Caleb black.
A cheery tale that highlights the importance of friendship, confidence, and working together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-55710-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
The runaway cookie in this Mexican bakery is a soft, brown, stubby-tailed piglet as impertinently bold and smug in his continual escape as his Gingerbread Boy cousin. “Chase me! Chase me down the street. But this is one piggy you won’t get to eat! / ¡Córrele, córrele! ¡Y Córrele más! ¡Soy el cochinito que jamás comerás!” This bouncy dual refrain extends the familiar cumulative text, rendered in both English and Spanish, as piggy manages to elude Marta the baker, Lorenzo the mechanic, Mamá Nita the beautician, Joaquín the telephone repairman and a host of other neighborhood adults—until he is outsmarted by Rosa, a little girl on her way to school, who foxily “helps him” cross the street. Safely tucked into her backpack, piggy is both a welcome surprise and an excuse for Rosa’s lateness to class. Deep opaque acrylic paintings of a colorful barrio and its residents in pursuit add the right amount of cultural flavor to this vivid Latino retelling. Recipe appended. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55885-586-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
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