Delightful, surprising, and all in good fun.
What is Fox planning?
Fox is carefully monitoring eight little chicks. “Fox is coming! / Hide away.” And off they go. Before setting off after them, the sly fox ties a kerchief onto a stick, perhaps to hold captured chicks. Trying to outwit the fox, the chicks run and flap throughout the farm, hiding in any place that might provide safety, or at least a temporary respite: maybe nestled among the large tree roots, in a hollow log, in the tin cans strewn around a foraging goat, or even among pigs in a muddy hole. All the while, the other farm animals look on benignly. But wherever the chicks run, the fox is not far behind, eagerly grabbing one or two of them at a time and placing them in that kerchief. Told in simple rhyming couplets, the tale will have youngsters following along with breathless anticipation as the desperate chicks careen around the farm in very bright, colorful, sharply defined illustrations, sometimes in wide angle, sometimes close up. The overall-clad fox’s expressions are by turns thoughtful, intense, and triumphant but never overtly menacing. When all the chicks are in the bag, the story comes to an unexpected, reassuring twist. The book is essentially a reworking of Kulka’s earlier work, Wolf’s Coming (2007), with co-author Patterson joining in as part of his recent series of collaborations.
Delightful, surprising, and all in good fun. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316572835
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends.
Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both!
Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. “Duck said, loud as he could quack it, / ‘THUNDER’S JUST A NOISY RACKET!’ ” In the quiet after the storm, the barnyard friends are sleepy, but the garage is not their home. “ ‘Beep!’ said Blue. ‘Just hop inside. / All aboard for the bedtime ride!’ ” Young readers will settle down for their own bedtimes as Blue and Toad drop each friend at home and bid them a good night before returning to the garage and their own beds. “Blue gave one small sleepy ‘Beep.’ / Then Little Blue Truck fell fast asleep.” Joseph’s rich nighttime-blue illustrations (done “in the style of [series co-creator] Jill McElmurry”) highlight the power of the storm and capture the still serenity that follows. Little Blue Truck has been chugging along since 2008, but there seems to be plenty of gas left in the tank.
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-85213-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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