A tender tale to help little ones master the days of the week—and find a way to savor each one.
Each day of the week means something different to this child.
The youngster is less than exuberant each Monday. With the weekend over, Mama goes to work and drops the protagonist off at day care. Fortunately, friends and fun brighten the little one’s spirits. Monday may be for moping, but “TUESDAY is for tiptoeing!” Dressed in a tutu and pink shoes, the child eagerly attends dance class after school. Each subsequent day highlights a different experience. “WEDNESDAY is for wiggling” (on Mama’s day off!), “THURSDAY is for thinking” (with a trip to the library), and “FRIDAY is for friends!” Saturday is spent with Gramma and Grandpa at the community garden, while the child rides scooters with Daddy by the canal on Sunday. The focus on what makes each day special might encourage families to look closely at their own routines and note favorite weekly traditions. Sterling’s pencil illustrations are smudgy and warm, imbuing the tale with a deep sense of affection, while Wong Nava’s energetic text is punctuated with exclamations. Every spread depicts characters laughing, playing, and relishing time spent together. Mama, Daddy, Gramma, and the child are brown-skinned, Grandpa is light-skinned, and their community is diverse. Context clues suggest that Mama and Daddy live in separate households, but this family’s love is what shines through most strongly.
A tender tale to help little ones master the days of the week—and find a way to savor each one. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781536242997
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
Sure to have little ones giggling.
Jacques is a hedgehog with a big secret: “I wear real, bona fide underwear.”
Our narrator received a mysterious package one day; an illustration shows a pair of underwear tied to a balloon with a note “from the Universe” floating down into Jacques’ burrow. Hedgehogs don’t wear underwear, however. Will Jacques be shunned? Jacques worries but comes to a decision: “I have to wear them. When I do I feel special.” Determined, Jacques, who’s been invited to a party, makes a dramatic entrance, with undies in hand. Jacques’ declaration (“I WEAR UNDERWEAR”) is met with remarks of dismay, before another hedgehog opens up about similar fears and shows off a pair of cowboy boots. More hedgehogs introduce themselves with their own confessions. The story ends with Jacques unveiling a painting of the underwear in a gallery filled with hedgehogs wearing all sorts of attire. Though the book is simple in plot, characters, and setting, it wins in its balance of bathroom humor, dramatic storytelling, and celebrations of individual expression. French words are peppered throughout, adding to the fun without detracting from the story for those unfamiliar with the language. The cartoonish illustrations brim with fun; Valdez relies heavily on geometric shapes (triangle noses for the hedgehogs; huge circles for their eyes). Details such as speech bubbles and recurring turtle and snake characters contribute to the outlandish humor.
Sure to have little ones giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781250814388
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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