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EVEN STEVEN

Name: EVEN STEVEN
Author: Carrie Finison
ISBN: 9780593859001

A BOOK ABOUT SHARING

by Carrie Finison ; illustrated by Daniel Wiseman ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 14, 2026

Superb conversation starters for youngsters who fret about fairness—in other words, all kids.

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Following Don’t Hug Doug (2021), Finison and Wiseman’s latest explores a familiar challenge through the eyes of a child.

Steven loves to share, and he wants everything to be divided equally. Unfortunately, not all objects can be broken in two like a cookie or passed around like a jar of pickles. You certainly can’t split a nickel, sharing a lollipop among lickers really isn’t advised, and a book absolutely shouldn’t be destroyed so that everyone gets the same number of pages. Equal can mean taking turns, like on the playground slide. Equal can mean working in tandem, like a group of kids playing together with a shared set of blocks. But sometimes equal isn’t fair—everyone might get a turn at the same bicycle, but it won’t fit every kid. Thankfully, flexibility leads to a fun solution when Steven and his friends jump on skateboards and tricycles and don roller skates to ride together. The final few pages present readers with a puzzle: how to share everything from a hula hoop to the planet. Finison and Wiseman present a surprisingly complex subject in a way that’s fresh, fun, and entirely creative. An excellent catalyst for classroom discussions, the book is sure to provoke giggles while getting kids to consider equity in an age-appropriate way—no mean feat. In Wiseman’s agreeably chaotic cartoon art, Steven is tan-skinned and red-haired; his friends are diverse.

Superb conversation starters for youngsters who fret about fairness—in other words, all kids. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 14, 2026

ISBN: 9780593859001

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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PLENTY OF PANCAKES
by Carrie Finison ; illustrated by Brianne Farley

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PIGS DIG A ROAD
by Carrie Finison ; illustrated by Brian Biggs

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HURRY, LITTLE TORTOISE, TIME FOR SCHOOL!
by Carrie Finison ; illustrated by Erin Kraan

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK LOST AND FOUND

From the Little Blue Truck series

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 18, 2026

Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed.

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Beep! Beep! Beep! Toad and Little Blue Truck get ready for a hayride.

After the titular vehicle is loaded with hay, Toad is nowhere to be found. “Beep! Beep! Beep! Where are you, Toad?” asks Little Blue Truck. All the barnyard animals look for him. Sheep searches the meadow. Goose and Duck check the pond. Others pitch in, too, but Toad seems to have disappeared…until Hen hears snoring coming from the pile of hay in the back of Little Blue Truck. Although the text’s scansion is imperfect in places (adults may want to pre-read to ensure a smooth read-aloud), the bouncy meter and rhyming text nevertheless capture the energy of the search and the farmyard community’s concern for Toad’s safety, making this a solid storytime choice. Eye-catching illustrations with rich, fully saturated colors balance the right level of detail while still highlighting the animal that is the focus of each verse. By introducing one farm animal at a time, Schertle also helps the youngest readers begin to identify barnyard animals by name and understand their unique farm homes. Traditional animal sounds are part of the text, and listeners will add them to their vocabulary. It all ends with the promised hayride, bringing the tale to a joyous ending.

Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026

ISBN: 9780063436121

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK AND RACER RED
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK MAKES A FRIEND
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

- BOOK REVIEW
TIME FOR SCHOOL, LITTLE BLUE TRUCK
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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)