Thoughtfully taps our natural capacity for empathy and kindness in caring for all creatures and our planet.
A pangolin advocates for wildlife conservation through her own tale of survival and hope.
Pangolina lives with her mother in a burrow. Textured illustrations detail the pangolins’ scales-plus-hair appearance, engaging readers with expressive eyes whose sparkle also resonates with Ai, a girl who later saves Pangolina following her capture by an animal trafficker. A quick plot exposes facts of life for endangered species in the wild using clear, logical, and sympathetic language accessible to the youngest readers. The atmospheric artwork defines a lush nocturnal habitat and its diverse occupants, including Pangolina’s friends Bat, wild pigs, and “wise Civet.” It’s Civet who dissects the visceral realities of animal trafficking while delving into emotional complexities that reveal the interconnectedness between animals and humans. Complementary verbal and visual narratives are compelling in their sophisticated simplicity, which offers layers of meaning, teaching moments, and opportunities for reflection. Case in point is Ai’s name, which can be: the (Mandarin) Chinese word for love; a homonym for eye—the shining feature on most spreads suggesting windows to these animals’ souls; a homonym for the English first-person pronoun demonstrating everyone’s potential to make a difference. Comprehensive aftermatter details pangolin facts, practical action items, and resources for all ages. Human characters have tan or brown skin and dark hair with various textures; one child uses a wheelchair.
Thoughtfully taps our natural capacity for empathy and kindness in caring for all creatures and our planet. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 8, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-6626-5040-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: minedition
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
IN THE NEWS
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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