A valuable model of intentional, compassionate response to gender expansive kids and their needs.
After coming out to his family as transgender, a biracial (half Black, half White) boy thrives.
A young, brown-skinned child who presents as a girl has always felt like a boy inside and wants to be called Calvin. Admitting this openly is scary, but with loving parental support, the child begins to express his true self. He, his mother, and his father spend the summer at his grandparents’ house, a vacation that turns out to be “the best ever.” The family have fun visiting a comic-book convention and a waterpark where Calvin gets to wear trunks for the first time and makes a friend with whom he proudly shares his new name. Before school reopens, Calvin’s family helps him shop for boy clothing, and his grandfather cuts off his hair. Calvin worries his classmates won’t accept him, but his friends and teachers readily validate his gender expression, bolstering his confidence and joy. This transition story depicts a community cultivating an affirming environment in which a child can flourish. The first-person narration reveals Calvin’s inner fears, but his identity and transition never cause external conflict, a welcome departure from the problem-focused storylines of other coming-out picture books written by cisgender adults. However, the text emphasizes that Calvin’s gender is in his heart and brain, perpetuating a problematic narrative that divorces transgender people from their bodies. Harren’s warm, expressive illustrations communicate much of the emotion in the story and are populated with diverse background characters who have various body sizes, skin colors, hair textures, and disabilities. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A valuable model of intentional, compassionate response to gender expansive kids and their needs. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-10867-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
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
Earnest and well meaning but not quite a touchdown.
In Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Hurts’ motivational picture book, a youngster rebounds from disappointment.
As Jalen heads off on his first day of school, he daydreams about joining the football team, but his friend Trey soon breaks the bad news. The garden club needed more space for vegetables, so the football field was used for planting. There will be no football this year. Jalen is despondent, but his teachers Mrs. Lee and Mr. Barry and bodega owner Mr. Muhammad offer guidance that spurs him and his friends into positive action. They work to flip a nearby empty lot into a football field, with Jalen echoing his mentors’ adages. Once the field is complete, Jalen feels a swell of pride in his and his friends’ work. While the idea of kids working together to effect change is a laudable one, the bland, wordy storytelling won’t inspire young people or hold their attention. Tired, cliched inspirational comments peppered throughout often slow down the narrative, and many adult readers will find the premise—a school dropping a high-interest sports program in favor of a community garden—wildly unrealistic. Though the illustrations are colorful, with a Disney Junior charm, strange stylistic choices, such as signs with odd combinations of scribbles instead of letters, give them an unpolished look. Like Hurts, Jalen is Black; his community is diverse.
Earnest and well meaning but not quite a touchdown. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9798217040308
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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