True magic lies at the heart of this marvelous tale.
Amid a dilapidated neighborhood, a little magic remains.
The Five Mile Road was once populated with families, but “hard times came along. The people all left. The sun went with them…the moon and stars, too.” Fortunately, one house is left standing, full of life, love, and laughter. At the Andersons’ residence, young Millie, Sonny, and Jonas demand to know what, precisely, is under their grandfather’s hat. Grandad answers with a wide array of increasingly outlandish ideas, from a lost tune to “a small brown sparrow, an apple with a bite taken out, and a teacup from China with magic inside.” And when, at long last, the children convince him to take off the garment, a marvelous galaxy is released. Graham keeps his plotting and dialogue light and playful even as darkness encroaches. By the tale’s end, something has changed, and the neighborhood becomes revitalized at last. The eclectic mix of realism and magic is what makes this tale work. Graham’s greatest talents lie in the day-to-day natural messiness of life in a family where Dad drops “pieces of tissue from a just-washed shirt like a soft fall of snow.” The author/illustrator’s signature spare watercolors bring to life the gloom of the abandoned street, the warmth of the home, and the magic that leaks from Grandad’s hat. Mom and Grandad are pale-skinned, while Dad and the kids are brown-skinned.
True magic lies at the heart of this marvelous tale. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781536245042
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
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
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
