Another child’s toy gained by mischance is a perfect vehicle for gently conveying the importance of honesty.
A found toy triggers a crisis of conscience.
While playing in his yard, Jesse accidentally acquires the perfect toy. He spots a black horse tumbling out of a wagon pulled by passers-by. Impulsively, the boy reaches through the fence and grabs it. The shiny, black horse on wheels captures Jesse’s imagination right away. Instantly dubbed “Wind” by the delighted boy, the toy inspires a whole new world of make-believe adventure. Wind by name and wind by nature, the horse races everywhere, “across the tabletop prairie and up and over the rolling cauliflower hills while Jesse ate supper.” The fantasy permits him to swim and dive in the bathtub, to gallop up the slide, and to splash “through puddles at glorious speed.” Jesse lies to his mother, telling her that Grandma gave him the horse. However his conscience starts to trouble him when he sees signs at the library and on the footbridge about a lost horse. He realizes he must do the right thing and return the toy to its rightful owner. Hutchins and Herbert’s text is vivid, specific, and evocative; Petričić’s pencil-and-watercolor illustrations have a fun, cartoonish quality that perfectly suits the story, investing the nominally inanimate toy with a huge personality. Jesse is white; there is diversity in the crowd scenes.
Another child’s toy gained by mischance is a perfect vehicle for gently conveying the importance of honesty. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77321-388-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
Interesting animal facts and beautiful photographs, but despite the title, best suited to preschoolers (who will love it).
Animal babies are compared with human babies through selected facts and full-page photos.
Sibert Medalist Thimmesh (Team Moon, 2006) explores the similarities and differences in how human and animal babies do things like eat, walk, learn, and play. On each two-page spread, the narrative portion is set in large, bold type while below it in a smaller font is a specific fact relating to the featured baby. Because the narrative portions run across several page turns, the informational pieces—which serve as asides—disrupt the flow. This issue is mitigated a bit by Thimmesh’s use of the same refrain to begin each new topic: “Each new day, in different ways, a baby like you” signals readers to resume the pace. The informational asides about animals are concise and high interest, and while the human facts will be familiar to adult readers, younger readers are likely to learn something new. The photography is gorgeous, with fuzzy, adorable animal babies and diverse, equally cute human ones. Though this book is addressed to a baby, they are not the appropriate audience. This one is best read to preschoolers who can appreciate the book’s length and details. The phrase “a baby like you” may be a misfit, but the past-tense descriptions of things babies do (like learning to walk) make sense for older readers.
Interesting animal facts and beautiful photographs, but despite the title, best suited to preschoolers (who will love it). (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-55312-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A good-enough gateway to more detailed texts but not on par with earlier works. (Graphic informational early reader. 4-6)
Ants are always moving, as this comic’s insect inhabitants collectively proclaim, and McCloskey’s fast-paced narrative stays true to this assertion.
Two children on a playground shrink to investigate an anthill, cursorily revealing myriad ant facts. Ant anatomy, the life cycle of an ant and a colony, the structure and hierarchy of the colony, and an exploration of the four ant senses (touch, smell, hearing, and taste) are covered in one- to two-page spreads, revealing some interesting tidbits of information (e.g., ants hear with their legs). The second half of the anthill tour provides some detail on various types of ant species, such as leaf-cutter ants, trap-jaw ants, and exploding ants. An amusing (and incomplete) list titled “What Ants Eat” is followed by a superfluous reintroduction of the children, again child-sized, which closes the volume. The book’s best feature is its illustrations. Painted on recycled grocery bags, the ants are detailed and expressive, making the children (one white-presenting and one black-) seem static in comparison, an impression exacerbated by the clumsy dialogue passing between the two. The facts fare better, although some spreads feel a bit crowded and organization is loose. The brevity of the information revealed may inspire independent research in older readers, which has the potential to yield some fascinating results. Somewhat disappointingly, the title has no bearing whatsoever on the text.
A good-enough gateway to more detailed texts but not on par with earlier works. (Graphic informational early reader. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-943145-45-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: TOON Books & Graphics
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
