Captivating.
An emotional journey of epic proportions.
Nunu, an Asian-presenting child with red glasses, angrily shreds a paper house on her desk; the yellow scraps pop against the grayscale background of her room. “It is all too much,” an unseen narrator explains as Nunu lies on the floor, sobbing. Like Max in Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (1963), Nunu discovers another world in her room—a vast, steely ocean dotted with yellow scraps. Aboard a folded paper boat, Nunu fixes her gaze far away from her unhappiness, but soon the waves swell around her tiny boat until she’s swept into a giant whirlpool. Nunu is alone. “Or so she thinks.” A spirited paper crane escapes from her backpack, and Nunu folds more paper to add to her menagerie. With the vessel becoming overcrowded, she must sacrifice her boat to create something new for herself. Kung subtly introduces a soft pastel palette as Nunu finds her way back to calm waters and her home, where, evoking Sendak’s work again, warmth and love await her. Kung has deftly folded her own magic into evocative prose and mesmerizing artwork that enchants in its simplicity. The author/illustrator invites young readers to confront big feelings and to ride them out, with the promise of acceptance and reconciliation upon return. An author’s note offers parents a starting point for beginning these important conversations with children.
Captivating. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780593812723
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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