A moving narrative about the complexity of belonging in two worlds.
A bonobo raised in a human household must navigate the confusing transition from her familiar world to life among her own species.
Schrefer crafts a narrative that probes questions about identity and belonging. His author’s note reveals the story’s foundation in real rehabilitation efforts, particularly the case of Mimi, a bonobo who spent her first 15 years in a human home before joining a sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lulu’s dual nature—ape body, human upbringing—creates a cognitive dissonance she cannot articulate, but Ford’s illustrations powerfully express her feelings. His colored pencil and ink artwork employs a sun-drenched yellow-green palette that bathes domestic interiors and the jungle scenes in warm, welcoming light, visually suggesting continuity rather than opposition between Lulu’s two worlds. Ford varies his compositional approach across both environments, shifting between sweeping double-page spreads and focused vignettes that highlight telling details—Lulu using the toilet in her human home, wild bonobos climbing trees and eating fruit. Ford renders bonobo facial expressions with remarkable psychological acuity; Lulu’s wide-eyed dismay upon arriving at the sanctuary, her uncertain glances at the wild bonobos, and her reassuring smile when, later, she comforts a newcomer all convey complex emotional states. Schrefer’s matter-of-fact prose establishes normalcy before gently dismantling it, respecting young readers’ capacity to grasp cultural displacement. The tale’s honesty about Lulu’s struggle rings true.
A moving narrative about the complexity of belonging in two worlds. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2026
ISBN: 9780063205376
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
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)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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