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BATH TIME FOR THE CRAYONS

Name: BATH TIME FOR THE CRAYONS
Author: Drew Daywalt
ISBN: 9780593694879

From the Crayons Celebrate series

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 13, 2026

Good clean fun for fans of this long-running franchise.

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The Crayon crew, having happily starred in more than two dozen books, now cleans up.

As the Crayons grab inner tubes and rubber duckies and prepare for bathtime, Daywalt keeps the laughs coming. Adult readers will be tickled by the many grown-up references: Prince’s “Purple Rain” and Gene Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain,” Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. But there’s plenty for younger readers: Esteban (“Pea Green” is crossed out and corrected on his label) wears a cape and snorkel as he perches on a bathtub faucet (later, he’ll sport the cape while playing pirate with Neon Red); a big Green shields the eyes of a small Green who is excitedly pointing to the spectacle of a naked (i.e., label-less) pale tan crayon; alongside Mermaid Purple, Starfish Orange, and Sea Turtle Green, a chunky My First Crayon offers an uplifting bit of wisdom about kindness. Some Crayons see bathtime as an opportunity to party, while others prefer to shower, but “they all have a splash”—interestingly, while wearing their labels. Jeffers again contributes his reliably droll crayon sketches, minimalist but with pleasing extras like a purple octopus popping up among the bathers.

Good clean fun for fans of this long-running franchise. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026

ISBN: 9780593694879

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Philomel

Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING

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GOODNIGHT, CRAYONS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

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NO SAM! AND THE MEOW OF DECEPTION
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Mike Lowery

- BOOK REVIEW
THE DAY THE CRAYONS MADE FRIENDS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

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THE HUMBLE PIE

From the Food Group series

by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 2025

A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.

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In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.

Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.

A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025

ISBN: 9780063469730

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BIG CHEESE PRESENTS
by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERYTHING'S WRONG!
by Jory John ; illustrated by Erin Kraan

- BOOK REVIEW
THE COOL BEAN MAKES A SPLASH
by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)