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THE INVISIBLE BEAR

Name: THE INVISIBLE BEAR
Author: Cécile Metzger
ISBN: 978-0-7352-6687-2

by Cécile Metzger ; illustrated by Cécile Metzger ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 4, 2020

Readers will be forgiven for wondering if a plant can replace companionship.

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In this French import (translated into English by its author), a bear that feels invisible undergoes a transformation.

Debut author/illustrator Metzger opens the story with exterior and interior settings rendered in pale gray/green watercolor and ink, a choice reinforcing the lonely silence surrounding the large, white bear that feels forgotten, unseen. His presence is distinguished only by the rain cloud perpetually above his head. One morning, a cluster of rosy dragonflies flits into his orbit—followed by a truck packed with the green and pink cargo of Madame Odette. Double-page spreads of the elderly white woman’s home and greenhouse, as well as vignettes of her many activities, show that she “lived in a cheerful world of color and sound.” Initially annoyed, the bear learns to accommodate the changes and ultimately help his new neighbor by transporting his cloud to her wilting garden. Then his new friend is gone: “She loved her dragonflies so much that she flew away with them.” Whether this is meant to be literal or metaphorical is open to interpretation, but the bear finds a potted flower on his doorstep and realizes that he has been seen. While the two characters’ contrasting lives are well delineated, the gray lasts a bit too long, the bear’s predicament is never explained, and the conclusion in which the friend departs will be unsatisfying for many children.

Readers will be forgiven for wondering if a plant can replace companionship. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-7352-6687-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Tundra Books

Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CRAB BALLET
by Renée M. LaTulippe ; illustrated by Cécile Metzger

- BOOK REVIEW
MORE THAN A LITTLE
by M.H. Clark ; illustrated by Cécile Metzger

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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)