Just might convince complaining children that their school isn’t so bad after all.
Wildwood Elementary School is full of wild animals.
A child is trying the deep breaths and happy thoughts recommended by Mom and Dad to prepare for the first day of school, but so far it isn’t working. At school, the child is surrounded by wild animals: a stinky desk mate (skunk), a biting locker buddy (crocodile), and an “unbearable” ursine teacher. The child tries pretending to be sick to avoid going back, but Mom and Dad don’t buy it. As the days go on, being dropped from the monkey bars by the monkeys, being picked over by a gorilla, and being invited to eat lunch with a crocodile give way to friendlier experiences. The things that made the child hate Wildwood Elementary are transformed into positives—friendships and helpers. The only challenge left is parents night! The text is written in a first-person narrative as diary entries in a faux handwritten type set on notebook paper. The protagonist, a child with huge glasses, tiny eyes, and energetically unkempt straight hair, is visibly transformed from a constant worrier to a happy kid. The protagonist and parents, the only humans in the story, present as White. This story has an amusing tongue-in-cheek quality in which the text can be read as exaggeration but the pictures bear out the child’s perspective. For children accused of having wild imaginations, this is an affirming treat. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Just might convince complaining children that their school isn’t so bad after all. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11652-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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