Pure fun and a good read-aloud choice.
When Stubby the squid gets a pen pal, he pretends to be something he’s not, and that turns out to be a big mistake!
“Stubby was a scaredy squid.” He’s beyond meek. But when Razor Clam becomes his pen pal, Stubby puffs himself up in his letters. After all, simply changing a few letters, he realizes, changes his character. Instead of “fearful,” he can be “fearless.” Instead of “gutless,” “gutsy.” How will Razor Clam ever know? So, Stubby relates his “rough and tough” adventures with jellyfish, an orca, sea lions, and a bull shark. But then Razor Clam decides to visit, and Stubby feels he’ll be exposed. But just as he confesses, “I’m sorry, but I’m…not really that brave. Umm…I guess I just like to write about being brave,” he gets a chance to be perfectly heroic when an otter sneaks up to grab Razor, and Stubby vanquishes the furry foe—in a fashion, readers will note, that mirrors his fraudulent adventures. It turns out that Razor is not so brave either, and they both agree that it’s better to write about being brave than having to be brave. Conahan’s colorful illustrations feature goggle-eyed protagonists who come to accept who they are. Though small and meek, they are drawn large against a busy ocean seascape.
Pure fun and a good read-aloud choice. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 21, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63217-199-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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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