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LUCIE AND THE WIND

Name: LUCIE AND THE WIND
Author: Grégoire Laforce
ISBN: 9781990252426

by Grégoire Laforce ; illustrated by Yvan Duque ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2026

A breath of fresh air.

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A young naturalist deepens her appreciation for the world.

Every morning, Lucie leaves her cottage at the base of a tree to explore. Ever the collector, Lucie—a pale-skinned child with a distinct red cape—captures exciting things she finds and puts them into jars in her patchwork backpack. The more she explores, the heavier her backpack gets. One morning, the Wind—personified as a series of blue shapes taking different forms from page to page—speaks to her. Lucie invites the Wind into one of her jars, but the Wind asks her to follow instead. After a strenuous hike up a cliff, the added weight from Lucie’s backpack nearly makes her fall. The Wind carries her to safety, but Lucie’s precious backpack drops. As Lucie cries, the Wind comforts her. Lucie’s journey home takes her past daisies, bees, soil, and more. She never did capture the Wind, but “it could never fit into a jar” anyway—a valuable lesson. In this latest gem, Laforce returns to themes about nature—also explored in his book The Lost Drop, illustrated by Benjamin Flouw (2023). He’s crafted an accessible fable that feels both timeless and fresh. Duque’s vibrant full-color artwork is whimsical and inviting, including a particularly memorable slug that follows Lucie on her journey. Each illustration is a double-page spread, mirroring nature’s expansiveness; curious readers will have a ball finding the intricate details hidden throughout.

A breath of fresh air. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 24, 2026

ISBN: 9781990252426

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Milky Way Picture Books

Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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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)

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

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FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)