Sleepers awake. An uncommonly pleasing consideration of wakeful wanderings.
Midnight insomnia meets wide-awake waterfowl when an old poem appears in a new form.
On a bit of a poem-to-picture-book tear since she illustrated poet Mary Oliver’s Goldfinches (2026), artist Sweet once more plucks verse from the past. This time E.B. White’s 1928 perambulation poem “Natura in Urbe” is the star of the show. Inspired by his sleepless nights spent walking around Central Park, the poem begins, “While midnight clung to every shore, / I walked me round the reservoir.” On this ramble, the subject encounters a duck swimming serenely at the same late hour. White’s delicious language infuses this simple encounter with wonder as he describes the fowl’s “negligible wake” and asks if he is pondering problems of his own. “A midnight sail to clear his vision / And help him reach some duck decision.” Sweet has a true talent for presenting poems that were never originally intended for children as entirely accessible, even enticing, to young readers. Relying on her signature mixed-media collage style, she incorporates maps of stars and Central Park, alongside painted scenes depicting both nighttime in the city and the nocturnal beauty of nature. The book includes a note from White’s granddaughter Martha discussing her grandfather’s love of nature and offering background on the poem.
Sleepers awake. An uncommonly pleasing consideration of wakeful wanderings. (Picture book/poetry. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9780063304291
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
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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