Beautifully presented and perfectly pitched to foster a sense of wonder about the natural world.
In Cino’s picture book, a caterpillar enlists readers’ help in escaping a plastic container and going through the process of metamorphosis.
Arlo, a black-and-yellow-striped caterpillar, has been shut away by children inside a sealed plastic “caterpillar palace” amply stocked with fish crackers, chocolate chips, tomatoes, and other supposed treats. (Sall’s colorful illustrations for this scenario make a clever juxtaposition of the vibrant, colorful garden and the happy disarray of Arlo’s unseen keepers’ discarded crayons and toys.) The absent kids’ love of nature comes with a potentially disastrous lack of knowledge and commitment: Arlo can’t eat any of the food they’ve provided. Remaining upbeat, he encourages readers to set him free (a request that requires turning the book upside down), help him to find milkweed flowers, and count out the 14 days during which he’ll metamorphose into an orange-and-black-winged monarch butterfly. The counting helps contextualize this process, as do the interruptions that occur when readers must scare off potential predators. Cino addresses readers directly, narrating in personable, uncomplicated language, either from Arlo’s perspective or from that of Ava, his happy green aphid friend. Sall’s two-page illustrations are vivid and exquisitely detailed while leaving sufficient space for the text. One tiny quibble: In an otherwise easy-to-read font, the commas look rather like periods.
Beautifully presented and perfectly pitched to foster a sense of wonder about the natural world.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9798990742253
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Whimspire Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 31, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
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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