The artwork deserves attention, but the therapeutic agenda overshadows the narrative pleasure.
In this Australian import, a stuffed hippo tries to cheer up a young boy through elaborate imaginative adventures before discovering what the little one really needs.
When young Billy tells Hippo he’s feeling sad, the well-meaning stuffed companion launches into a whirlwind of imaginative activities—dressing up in costumes, dancing among the cherry blossoms, embarking on pirate adventures, having flying carpet races, and planning a party. None of it works, and Billy at last reveals that he just wants a supportive friend to listen. Evans’ watercolor and colored pencil illustrations shine, particularly in the expansive double-page spreads. The pirate ship scene relies on diagonal composition and a massive curling wave to create drama and movement, while the flying carpet sequence employs aerial perspective over a bustling, colorful cityscape to convey breathtaking scope. Other scenes have an appealing retro charm reminiscent of early Olivia books. The text, however, isn’t quite as successful. Billy’s dialogue feels unnaturally adult (“It’s not what I need right now”), and the didactic message dominates the narrative rather than emerging organically. The book joins an increasingly crowded shelf of recent picture books explicitly teaching emotional processing and active listening—though Evans’ artistic skill elevates it above many peers, the heavy-handed lesson-giving may wear thin for readers seeking genuine storytelling. Billy has dark hair and skin the white of the page.
The artwork deserves attention, but the therapeutic agenda overshadows the narrative pleasure. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2026
ISBN: 9798217038732
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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