Sweet, but light on financial lessons.
An artistic bunny turns creativity into carrot currency.
Toonie’s big sister Bun earns carrots (the money of rabbits) by singing. Toonie, a painter, has talent, too, and shows off an array of tools, from differently shaped brushes to paint colors, easel, and paper. Toonie sells six paintings for a carrot apiece, making sure to add up the week’s sales. McLeod’s artwork charms through her wide-eyed bunnies and Toonie’s art gallery, complete with handmade price tags, with local customers dropping in to make purchases. The text combines childlike print and cursive, conveying Toonie’s youth and exuberance in curved k’s, d’s, p’s, and t’s. Though the message—there’s nothing more fun than earning by doing what you love—is laudable, the narrative is light on tension or conflict; Toonie never expresses any uncertainty about the endeavor, and the paintings all sell quickly. Nor does McLeod offer any concrete lessons in financial literacy or in math; the book contains a single instance of Toonie adding up sales, but, despite the title, readers won’t learn much about earning or starting a business, especially compared with previous titles in the series. Younger readers may also be confused as to why Toonie’s so excited to earn—some practical examples of the bunny spending the hard-earned carrots might have helped demonstrate the intended message.
Sweet, but light on financial lessons. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9780593529669
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: yesterday
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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BOOK REVIEW
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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