This delightful story will appeal to everyone from younger preschoolers to new readers to dog lovers of any age.
An appealing black-and-white dog finds a home with a little girl and her parents after rescuing the child’s lost teddy bear.
A striking cover presents a simple, inviting image of the little dog with a quizzical expression. The story begins on the front endpapers with multiple spot illustrations of the dog looking sad and lonely. The dedication double-page–spread shows the dog observing a little girl and her mom leaving their house for a bike ride, with the child in her own little seat holding her teddy bear. Each page or spread has just two words of text, with a different adjective modifying the word “dog.” The pup’s struggles and emotions are ingeniously conveyed with this textual device, following the dog through danger, hunger, loneliness, and the brave restoration of the missing bear to the little girl. In a touching conclusion, the hopeful child asks her parents, “My dog?” Teddy bear, girl, and dog are ready to start their new life together on the last spread with a gigantic speech balloon stating, “Good dog.” The little girl has brown skin and black hair in cornrows, like her dad, and her mom has light skin. A busy scene at a city park shows a vibrant community with people of different ethnicities and ages, including several with disabilities. Digitally produced illustrations use a muted palette with smudgy edges and heavy, black outlines delineating the characters, complementing a thoughtful, well-paced design.
This delightful story will appeal to everyone from younger preschoolers to new readers to dog lovers of any age. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-266286-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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
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