A salute to the spirit of invention that reads more like a first draft than a finished product.
A young Renaissance penguin triumphs after much trial and considerable error.
Rutland crafts an incoherent tale featuring a beaked inventor who puts part of his flock in peril with one experimental device, then gets them out of it with another. Trapped on a small iceberg that’s been split from the home glacier in some unclear way by his new flying machine and is rapidly shrinking as ice chunks are bitten off by a menacing orca, Chilly hastens to construct from apparently limitless quantities of iron “sea junk” a series of baroque escape vehicles. After his riveted “Polar Roller” sinks like a stone and a side-wheeled submarine likewise fails (“My pulleys didn’t pulley. My engine didn’t engine,” he comments opaquely), he pauses for some kelp casserole made by the “ladies who chick-sit me” before ultimately (after many pages) succeeding. The splashy watercolor-style illustrations alternate between jumbled brown leaves of rough diagrams and Antarctic scenes of the bespectacled Chilly, ruminating over each reversal and ignoring the sallies of nemesis Vinnie (“Hey, pull my flipper”) in the background. The tale’s non sequiturs and coy sight gags and references will likely play better with readers than its supposed theme—which, according to the author’s awkwardly phrased afterword, reflects the life of the historical Leonardo in focusing more on process than rewards and in thinking outside the box.
A salute to the spirit of invention that reads more like a first draft than a finished product. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Dec. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4283-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
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
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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