A cheerful horsey story with a dash of mystery.
The 11th installment of a British series featuring animal lover Jasmine.
School has just finished for the year when, the night after a big thunderstorm, Jasmine finds a wounded baby horse in one of the fields on her family farm. Jasmine and her best friend, Tom, use Jasmine's donkey, Mistletoe, to lure the foal into a pen so that Jasmine's mom, a vet, can treat his leg. Jasmine wants nothing more than to keep the foal, but she knows it belongs with its mother. With Tom’s help, she works to find the foal’s owner and solve the mystery of how it got to her family’s farm. Like the previous titles in the series, this book combines adventure with sound, age-appropriate information about how to care for and work with animals; however, the side plot involving a pair of rabbits and Jasmine's stereotyped and misogynistic great aunt feels contrived. That Jasmine is biracial is conveyed through the illustrations (Jasmine has brown skin, while her mom’s skin is comparatively darker, and her dad is White) and by her mother's surname: Singh. Black-and-white illustrations that appear every few pages, along with the relatively large font size and careful pacing, will make this story appealing to readers just moving on from beginner chapter books.
A cheerful horsey story with a dash of mystery. (Fiction/chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: April 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2271-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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