A warm and uplifting reminder that love and creativity are what make celebrations truly special.
Isabel dreams of a big, blowout birthday party but must temper her wishes.
Curly-haired, tan-skinned Isabel greets her family on the morning of her birthday brimming with hope. She tells her mother that she’s hoping for a huge soiree with her friends but is disappointed when she learns they’ll be having “a small family fiesta.” Even the giant store-bought piñata she imagined is out of the family’s budget. A mishap convinces her she might not even get a cake, and by the end of the school day, Isabel feels let down by what seems like a ruined birthday. But when she arrives home, Isabel is surprised by a backyard celebration. The piñata and decorations are homemade, and instead of a cake, a tall stack of buñuelos awaits her. Surrounded by family, Isabel delights in the heartfelt, homespun party and realizes her birthday wish has come true in an unexpected way. Zapata honors the disappointment children feel when their hopes don’t align with reality while also modeling resilience and the joy that can come from flexibility. Galvez’s soft pastel hues set a gentle tone, even as Isabel frets that her big day won’t be everything she imagined. Isabel’s multigenerational family members are of Mexican heritage and speak both Spanish and English. A reader’s note, in English and Spanish and written by a psychologist, offers strategies to help children build inner strength.
A warm and uplifting reminder that love and creativity are what make celebrations truly special. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781433847509
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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