A fetching reminder to look for what brings us together.
Visitors to a dog park find common ground, even though they don’t look the same—or even belong to the same species.
Actually, Armando and Scurry—a border collie and a border collie mix, respectively—do resemble one another (“I mean,” says one, “we totally match.” “Yup. You said it”), but that’s the last time that mere looks come into play. Scurry and golden retriever Mango match up over their love of playing ball, Armando and fluffy little Lucille Snowball bond over a shared delight in sticking their heads out of car windows, and other dogs chime in: “Hey! Wet food or dry food?” “I’m on Team Dry.” “Hydrant? Or bush?” They don’t just break off into pairs, either; several like to do tricks or chase squirrels, while others prefer just to sit and watch. One isn’t even a dog, but a sweater-clad ferret who silently but expressively “matches” with Armando after the latter asks tentatively, “Are you friendly?” Just to make the point explicit, terrier mix Button, holding a microphone, provides knowing commentary: “You can’t always tell right away, can you?” In Glick’s idyllic cartoon scenes, humans of diverse hue, including one who uses a wheelchair, stay in the background until the time comes for a group portrait and a collective “WE ALL MATCH!” Best of all, character cards for the eight animals at the end offer readers opportunities to keep making connections within, and perhaps beyond, the four-legged cast.
A fetching reminder to look for what brings us together. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781662621062
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Astra Young Readers
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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