A set of poems filled with mischief and magic.
Author/illustrator Allen offers an entertaining collection of rhyming poems for children.
In this imaginative book, the author taps into a poetic style that calls to mind the work of Shel Silverstein, entertaining young readers with silly scenarios and magical beasts. It opens with a poem about a “Pocket Unicorn,” purchased from a friend, which raises suspicions in its new owner. A gigantic bubble wand provides a peaceful escape from reality for a girl—until her mom bursts it. “Heart of Stone” explores how a child attempts and fails to feed, talk, and bond with a round, gray “animal” found outside. “F…Unfair!” depicts a fair with faulty rides, spoiled food, broken toilets, and mean-spirited clowns. Readers meet curious creatures, such as a cranky ore-eating “Snoor” and a hair-thieving “Gare” to unique characters like “Uncle Snood,” who eats blue food in solitude, or the filthy “Klank,” who lives inside a sewage tank. A recurring topic is plans going awry, from a pirate ship that accidentally ends up in arctic waters to a monster trap that inadvertently catches its inventor. Food is another common theme, as in poems about a child whose indecision turns an epic ice cream cone into a melted mess in “Everything Soup” to a child who makes “Junk Salad,” loaded with excessive toppings. Throughout, the works are enhanced with expressive, playful illustrations that bring their bizarre subjects to life. Overall, Allen employs deft wordplay and tongue-twisting rhymes to depict absurd situations in a poetry collection that demands to be read aloud. Occasional terms, such as aristocrat, may require additional explanation for younger readers; however, the childlike language is simple, accessible, and relatable in stanzas such as “To remember is hard: / I forget lots of stuff. / And my brainpower sometimes / just isn’t enough.” Each rhythmic line builds on the next, gaining momentum until it reaches an often ridiculous end. Everyday occurrences, such stepping on something gross or missing an essential item on a to-do list, get Allen’s wacky treatment, leading to sight gags or hilarious jokes.
A set of poems filled with mischief and magic.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9798992986877
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Rhyme Dreams Publishing LLC
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Affecting and hopeful.
A stray dog finds her destiny amid the chaos of a Southern California wildfire.
Wombat is a small dog with stubby legs and “silly ears / that look like furry cookies”—almost impossibly cute in Bricking’s occasional pencil-style vignettes. She’s mastered the art of survival, so when a mysterious internal voice prods her to go toward the fire, she resists. “The wrong way is the right way. / The right way is the wrong way,” the voice insists. When she tells fellow stray Silas about it, he tells Wombat she’s a “destiny dog,” bound to “find their person / before their person / can find them.” Convinced, she decides to follow the mysterious instructions. Meanwhile, Henry, a boy who’s leery of dogs, loves the bats at the wildlife rehabilitation center where Mama Ro, a veterinarian, works; his Mama J is a librarian. Henry and Barnabas, a fruit bat at the center, are both uprooted by the fire, and their paths converge with Wombat’s at an emergency shelter. The third-person perspective shifts from character to character in clusters of free-verse poems that fully immerse readers in each one’s experiences in turn. This extra-concentrated delivery of Applegate’s typically spare writing proves effective, balancing terror and sadness with heart and humor. Henry has light brown skin, Mama Ro has curly black hair and brown skin, and Mama J presents white.
Affecting and hopeful. (Verse fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9780063221178
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Storytide/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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