A travel-friendly addition to the cute-canine canon, best read aloud.
Milton the dog accidentally embarks on a trip to Paris.
Milton, a snaggle-toothed pup with curly brownish-cream fur (Milton’s human family appears with light brown skin), is an expert at napping, no matter the venue. One day, when he falls asleep in a suitcase belonging to elegant Aunt Kay, he ends up on a plane, traversing the Atlantic Ocean; to his distress, Milton wakes in Paris. Aunt Kay stops his crying with a shopping spree, complete with cucumber eye treatment and beret. He visits the Louvre, dines with new friends on his own, takes himself to fromageries, and appears to court a poodle while boating on the Seine. Pantoja’s cartoons make the familiar subject matter pop: The linework is expressive, with rich purple tones signaling a Parisian evening, giving a touch of class to the simple illustrations. Distefano’s word choices are simple and direct, if inelegant (“He worried and felt bad. Milton wanted to cry”), and the book’s rhyming couplets maintain story-time verve, even when shoehorning in a questionable slant rhyme (“friends/French”). While hardly a grounded introduction to French daily life, Milton’s journey may serve as an early example of the value of travel in the vein of Eloise, proving equally delightful with its silly, too-sleepy puppy hero.
A travel-friendly addition to the cute-canine canon, best read aloud.Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9798886791877
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Luminare Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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