Nothing heavy here, just good times with good beaver buddies.
Two beaver friends take on a swimming challenge.
Chip and Ben, young beaver pals featured in two previous books by Beyl, love to swim together, but it's usually an excuse to dive for rocks and explore the area near each other’s homes. When Catfish urges them to race with him to the far end of Beaver Pond, it's a huge deal for the youngsters, since they’ve “never swum all the way across the pond.” Readers may detect a contradiction here since the beavers would have had to swim all the way across the pond to get to each other’s homes, but close inspection of the artwork reveals that Ben’s family has a motorboat-style sailing vessel made out of a hollowed tree trunk. Chip, who narrates the book, has qualms about the long swim, but Ben says that “it'll be an adventure!” With their parents’ permission, the two venture out. Ben speeds ahead, but Chip struggles. “I wish I were pretending and exploring with Ben. This isn't fun anymore,” he laments. Best friend that he is, Ben slows down to wait for Chip, and the two finish the journey together. This ode to friendship is heartwarming and includes inventive touches like “twig-and-maple-leaf sandwiches.” Beyl’s cartoony illustrations are expressive and engaging throughout; of particular note is a double-page map of the pond and surrounding landscape showing such intriguing landmarks as “Broken Canoe” and “Scary Stumps.” Chip and Ben are a delight, and their modest-yet-huge adventure’s a treat. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nothing heavy here, just good times with good beaver buddies. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8075-5464-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This lacks the information of other nonfiction titles and the pizzazz of April Pulley Sayre’s Go, Go, Grapes! (2012), but it...
The prolific Gibbons tackles fruits—how they grow, their parts, and what portions we eat.
Beginning with facts about perennial and annual fruits and how many servings children should aim for each day, the book then looks at how fruits can grow on plants, bushes, vines, and trees. Good vocabulary is introduced and defined along the way—botanist, pollination, cultivated. The middle of the book is taken up by individual looks at 13 different kinds of fruits that show cutaway views labeled with parts, the whole plant/bush/vine/tree, and some of the popular varieties—for grapes, golden muscat, red flame, and concord. This is followed by a discussion of growing seasons and climates, large farms versus backyard ones, harvesting fruit and getting it to market, and some other fruits that were not featured in the text, including star fruits, apricots, and persimmons. A final page lists more fruit facts and two websites (one for the United States, one for Canada) about food guidelines. The text sometimes gets lost in Gibbons’ busy and full pages, and while her illustrations are detailed and specific for each type of fruit, the watercolors won’t make mouths water.
This lacks the information of other nonfiction titles and the pizzazz of April Pulley Sayre’s Go, Go, Grapes! (2012), but it may be just the ticket before a school trip to a farm. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3204-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
© 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.
