A cutesy but conversation-starting narrative that takes anxiety seriously and offers practical solutions.
Ruby the penguin prepares for what she knows will be a nervous time at the talent show.
Ruby starts every day with a song: “I’m a pep pep peppy penguin.” But while she’s excited to sing at the upcoming Penguin Talent show, she confesses to her friend Pengwee, of author Nutley’s Pengwee’s Breath (2021), she’s not sure that her usual methods for calming her nervous heart, like dancing the Jiggly Wiggly, will work. Pengwee suggests she pretend she’s alone on stage, but Ruby isn’t sure that will be possible. She tries to follow her mother’s advice (sing from the heart), but it’s her pounding heart that seems to be the source of her anxiety. Pengwee helps Ruby talk about how her heart feels when she experiences different emotions: It “hip-hops when I’m happy, sinks when I’m sad, and wobbles when I worry.” Pengwee’s heart feels similarly, and they conclude that Ruby should look at Pengwee if she gets nervous. At the talent show, a combination of looking up at the sky and at her sympathetic friend helps her sing. Rusu’s loose, expressive digital paintings in cool tones show glossy-eyed, cute penguins wearing scarves and hats and depict joyful song as a blue, yellow, and purple swirling cloud. The penguins’ expressions alternate between blissful calm and shuddering anxiety. While some of the child-like lingo (dancing the Jiggly Wiggly) may put off older readers, younger kids navigating anxiety may benefit from the heart-and-breath-focused mindfulness of physicality and options for navigating high-stress situations.
A cutesy but conversation-starting narrative that takes anxiety seriously and offers practical solutions.Pub Date: Dec. 20, 2023
ISBN: 9781737747932
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Purple Green Press LLC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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PERSPECTIVES
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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