Fun and frolicsome, though not as grounded in the natural world as earlier books in the series.
In Gallois’ picture book, a family of opossums attend a disco and offer readers an alphabet’s worth of words to consider.
Mama opossum and her three joeys “awaken” as night falls. They “blink,” “clean” their teeth, “dress,” and “emerge” from their treehouse burrow. (While the majority of the text is presented in white font, the verbs are mauve-colored and bolded, catching the reader’s attention as the author proffers examples beginning with each letter of the alphabet.) After stopping to “gather” and “hunt,” the opossums proceed to a subterranean disco (hosted beneath a giant toadstool), where they dance the night away with other nocturnal creatures: “Opossums strut and shake their tails / till sun rays light the skies. / They thank the DJ, rubbing sleep / from tired, droopy eyes.” Gallois narrates in rhyming couplets that, in addition to the alphabetically arranged verbs, render the story somewhat underwhelming, despite the lively concept. Bobrek’s double-page illustrations are masterful, lending storybook personality to anthropomorphized animals (treated more naturalistically in previous Awesome Opossum Stories), offering young readers a recurring character (a frog) to find, and shading each scene with sublime, hazy hues that prove especially striking in the interplay of disco lights. One qualm: The properties of action verbs are never made explicit, and several of the chosen words are actually stative verbs (fail, know, prefer, understand) rather than action verbs.
Fun and frolicsome, though not as grounded in the natural world as earlier books in the series.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781954322257
Page Count: 35
Publisher: Moonflower Press
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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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