An engaging and enjoyably illustrated tale of characters uniting to defeat an obnoxious opponent.
In Garcia’s illustrated children’s book, the residents of a pumpkin patch team up to outwit their corvid attackers.
In this story, pumpkins find themselves tormented by a group of crows, but they find a way to defend themselves and protect their patch. The birds, led by Corvus, avoid the nearby cornfield, which is protected by a scarecrow (“Don’t you remember, feather-brains? We can’t harass the cornfield anymore. It has the most horrendous monster lurking in its midst!” Corvus says to his underling). However, the feathered fiends delight in making themselves as annoying as possible to Fairytale Pumpkin, Knucklehead, Warty Goblin, and their fellow pumpkin neighbors. (They’re all named for real pumpkin varieties, and the book’s back matter provides more detail on their idiosyncrasies.) The pumpkins decide that the time has come for them to fight back, but they disagree over strategy. Fairytale leads a mission to ask the corn to share their scarecrow, but the vegetables are not about to give up their defense. This comes as no surprise to Warty Goblin, whose objections Fairytale rudely overrode. After she returns from the cornfield and apologizes, he organizes the pumpkins into a scarecrow of their own, which effectively chases Corvus and company out of the patch for good. There are several fine lessons in the text, involving the value of mutual aid; the importance of forgiving others, rather than nursing resentments; and the need to listen to wise elders. All are rendered with welcome subtlety. Knoetze and De Vries’ full-color cartoon illustrations do an excellent job of bringing the text to life, relating the motions and emotions of the anthropomorphized but still plantlike pumpkins. The crows aren’t the most compelling villains—they seek only to make themselves a nuisance, rather than anything deeper—but Garcia turns them into a necessary obstacle for the pumpkins to overcome, and she delivers a satisfying resolution. Young readers will enjoy seeing the bullies get their comeuppance and they’re likely to find the book visually appealing, as well.
An engaging and enjoyably illustrated tale of characters uniting to defeat an obnoxious opponent.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9798891325272
Page Count: 46
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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BOOK REVIEW
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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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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