A sweet and spirited tale of human and badger coming together to live in harmony.
A pair of wily badgers stir up trouble, cause chaos, and save the day in this playful children’s tale.
On a blustery day in Boise, Idaho, the Badger family members ready themselves for another day of play on the ranch. Badger brothers Brett and Bartt—identical twins in every way, save for Bartt’s eyeglasses—prepare for their favorite game: digging up holes on Rancher Wayne’s land. While the Badgers perceive this as good fun, Rancher Wayne doesn’t agree (the brothers mistake his temper tantrum upon finding the holes for a silly, whimsical dance). After making their way past critter traps, barbed wire fences, and Wayne’s pesky cat, Ranger, Brett and Bartt begin their digging, only to be shaken up by an earthquake that ruptures Wayne’s waterpipes. Startled and feeling a little guilty, the twins race to tell their father, Basil, the mayor of Badgerville, what has happened. With gallons of rushing water threatening to flood Rancher Wayne’s house, farm, and the entirety of Badgerville, it’s up to friends and foes alike to work together and save their home. The authors have crafted a simple and playful tale for young children with a vital message: “There’s plenty of room for all creatures, great and small, to live together in perfect harmony for all eternity.” The protagonists—adorable critters with a perfect balance of naughty and nice—will lead young readers through an evenly paced and quick-moving romp, concluding with a satisfying solution to the crisis. Kat Davis’ full-color illustrations are sweet and simple, depicting a variety of appealing characters, from the scraggly barn cat to the glasses-adorned Bartt. Elementary school–aged children will delight in this wholesome story led by two spunky badger brothers that wraps up with an important lesson.
A sweet and spirited tale of human and badger coming together to live in harmony.Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2025
ISBN: 9798369455838
Page Count: 32
Publisher: XlibrisUS
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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