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HENRI AND THE SECRET LETTERS

Name: HENRI AND THE SECRET LETTERS
Author: Fanny Ducassé
ISBN: 9781778403644

by Fanny Ducassé ; translated by David Warriner ; illustrated by Fanny Ducassé ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 2026

Readers will bask in this snuggly comfort read.

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In this French import, a badger who enjoys a drama-free life finds himself pursued by a secret admirer.

On the first day of fall—dapper Henri’s favorite season—he receives a letter in the mail that reads, “Dear Henri, I love the twinkle in your eye. Signed: A secret sender.” Who could have sent it? When Henri gets an unexpected visit from skunk Mimi, he wonders if she could be his secret admirer. After Henri receives a second letter that includes a recipe for Potato Leek Soup and the instruction “If you write back, please leave your message at the foot of the old tree stump deep in the forest,” he does indeed write back. The suspense builds when Henri receives a second letter; this one says, “Would you like to meet at the Fall Festival?” The book is a nonstop cozyfest speckled with autumnal and other recipes, including one, for vanilla pudding, on which the storyline hinges. Making her English-language debut, French author/illustrator Ducassé uses harvest colors, naturally, for her exquisitely detailed marker and black pen compositions. Enterprising older kids should be able to tackle the featured recipes with minimal adult help—with the exception of Creamy Mushroom Pasta, whose ingredient list alone may inspire a “Mon Dieu!”

Readers will bask in this snuggly comfort read. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2026

ISBN: 9781778403644

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Greystone Kids

Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

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PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

by James Dean ; illustrated by James Dean ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2018

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

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by James Dean & Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

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PETE THE KITTY'S FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL
by Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

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I LOVE PETE THE KITTY
by James Dean & Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

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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)