A sweet attempt to explore boundaries that doesn’t come together.
A penguin’s preference for personal space makes community life tricky.
Heloise likes a lot of things: eating fish Popsicles, sledding, and exchanging rocks with friends. She’s not a fan of leopard seals or crowds. But penguins need huddles (tight groupings of many birds) to keep warm and to protect themselves from predators. Heloise always makes up an excuse to avoid huddles; she doesn’t want to tell her friends the truth. Eventually her friends stop asking her to join them, but she worries that she doesn’t fit in. She leaves the Antarctic and tries unsuccessfully to find a new home. When she returns, her friends have a marvelous surprise for her at the next huddle. The book offers a sympathetic portrayal of a character who’s eager to maintain personal boundaries yet still wants to embrace her friends in her own way. Kerbel draws parallels between Heloise and many introverted humans, though the analogy feels a bit strained: People have the option of staying home when they feel overwhelmed, while refusing to huddle could spell death for a penguin. At times, the pacing is awkward or abrupt, such as the transition from Heloise’s search for a place to belong to her return home. Lugo’s gouache and colored-pencil illustrations are handsomely rendered and darling, particularly all the penguins with their cold-weather accessories and eyewear.
A sweet attempt to explore boundaries that doesn’t come together. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781459839106
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees.
After Duncan finds his crayons gone—yet again—letters arrive, detailing their adventures in friendship.
Eleven crayons send missives from their chosen spots throughout Duncan’s home (and one from his classroom). Red enjoys the thrill of extinguishing “pretend fires” with Duncan’s toy firetruck. White, so often dismissed as invisible, finds a new calling subbing in for the missing queen on the black-and-white chessboard. “Now everyone ALWAYS SEES ME!…(Well, half the time!)” Pink’s living the dream as a pastry chef helming the Breezy Bake Oven, “baking everything from little cupcakes…to…OTHER little cupcakes!” Teal, who’s hitched a ride to school in Duncan’s backpack, meets the crayons in the boy’s desk and writes, “Guess what? I HAVE A TWIN! How come you never told me?” Duncan wants to see his crayons and “meet their new friends.” A culminating dinner party assembles the crayons and their many guests: a table tennis ball, dog biscuits, a well-loved teddy bear, and more. The premise—personified crayons, away and back again—is well-trammeled territory by now, after over a dozen books and spinoffs, and Jeffers once more delivers his signature cartooning and hand-lettering. Though the pages lack the laugh-out-loud sight gags and side-splittingly funny asides of previous outings, readers—especially fans of the crayons’ previous outings—will enjoy checking in on their pals.
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780593622360
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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