Doesn’t stand out among the many introductions to Halloween’s delights.
Chloe Zoe in back, exploring Halloween’s delights with her friends.
The anthropomorphic elephant girl is enthusiastic about all that this “autumn tradition” has to offer—carving jack-o-lanterns, apple cider, homemade doughnuts, decorating, wearing a costume, and trick-or-treating—but she’s a little leery of the old house on the corner where a friend told her an evil witch lives. Her friends Mary Margaret, a crocodile, and George, a giraffe, try to tell her that witches aren’t real, but she’s unconvinced. Still, the three have a blast with their families as they go door to door gathering tasty treats and seeing other kids’ costumes…until the only house left is the witch’s. Chloe Zoe loses her cool, only regaining it with the help of her father’s words of wisdom and her brave friends’ hands in hers. Smith’s artwork incorporates textured papers with lots of competing shapes and patterns, which can sometimes make it difficult to parse the illustrations. Also, with a few exceptions when Chloe Zoe is dealing with her witch fears, the characters’ facial expressions are static. It’s Thanksgiving, Chloe Zoe! publishes simultaneously; its plot revolves around an inedible pumpkin pie she bakes with Grammy, Grammy’s failing eyesight and Chloe Zoe’s illiteracy combining to mix cayenne with cinnamon.
Doesn’t stand out among the many introductions to Halloween’s delights. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1210-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Toad and Little Blue Truck get ready for a hayride.
After the titular vehicle is loaded with hay, Toad is nowhere to be found. “Beep! Beep! Beep! Where are you, Toad?” asks Little Blue Truck. All the barnyard animals look for him. Sheep searches the meadow. Goose and Duck check the pond. Others pitch in, too, but Toad seems to have disappeared…until Hen hears snoring coming from the pile of hay in the back of Little Blue Truck. Although the text’s scansion is imperfect in places (adults may want to pre-read to ensure a smooth read-aloud), the bouncy meter and rhyming text nevertheless capture the energy of the search and the farmyard community’s concern for Toad’s safety, making this a solid storytime choice. Eye-catching illustrations with rich, fully saturated colors balance the right level of detail while still highlighting the animal that is the focus of each verse. By introducing one farm animal at a time, Schertle also helps the youngest readers begin to identify barnyard animals by name and understand their unique farm homes. Traditional animal sounds are part of the text, and listeners will add them to their vocabulary. It all ends with the promised hayride, bringing the tale to a joyous ending.
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026
ISBN: 9780063436121
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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