by Jean Leroy ; illustrated by Matthieu Maudet ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 30, 2016
So where do good manners get you? Hunger here and salvation there. Life is a mystery.
A young wolf goes hunting for the first time and learns his prey can be crafty—not to mention a bunch of liars.
Leroy’s wolf in this French import has a wolfish streak, but he is also a gentleman. His first quarry is a rabbit, caught in a butterfly net. Well-mannered to a fault, the wolf asks the rabbit for its last wish: to be read a story. The wolf rushes home to get one after the rabbit promises not to move a muscle. The three vignettes that depict his rushing home, choosing a book, and rushing back are hysterical. Arriving back at the scene, the wolf finds the rabbit has vanished. “Wait...he’s gone? Oh, that liar!” His next prey, a chicken, pulls a similar bamboozlement, but the little boy he nabs soon thereafter is true to his promise not to move. So not only does the wolf grant him his last wish, a drawing, but he agrees to let the boy show it to his friends (yes, rabbit and chicken). When the wolf sees them in their woodland clubhouse, he walks away after a page turn. Readers are left to their own devices in solving the riddle, but the absence of the rabbit and the chicken in the frame may be a clue. Maudet’s artwork—vignettes, full-page illustrations, two-page spreads—are colored in earth tones that make for clean, rural tableaux.
So where do good manners get you? Hunger here and salvation there. Life is a mystery. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5479-7
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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by Hoda Kotb ; illustrated by Chloe Dominique ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
Pleasant enough but not particularly original.
Uplifting messages of positivity from the Today show anchor.
Hope springs eternal, so the saying goes. Kotb agrees, here delivering to children the cheery news that hope lives inside all of them and that whatever they might wish for can be theirs. All they need is a sunny outlook, and the possibilities for happy outcomes are virtually endless. Children’s dreams can be in-the-moment ones—like purple ice cream with whipped cream and a cherry—or more far-ranging ones, such as growing tall enough to reach that high shelf easily or for hair that’s long enough to braid. It doesn’t matter, the author reassures young readers. Your aspirations will be realized, so don’t give up on them—just keep believing in them and, most of all, in yourself. Throughout, Kotb calls hope a rainbow, a feeling, a gift, and a wish. Hope is “new friends you’ll find— / friends who are loving and funny and kind.” Hope is “practicing your heart out, letter by letter.” The book’s overarching theme is upbeat, but its bouncy rhyming text is clumsy. The child-appealing illustrations are colorful and lively, though they have a generic look. The cast of wide-eyed characters is racially diverse; some have visible disabilities.
Pleasant enough but not particularly original. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780593624128
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
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by Hoda Kotb ; illustrated by Suzie Mason
by Karma Wilson ; illustrated by Jane Chapman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2024
Cheery fun that will leave series fans “egg”-static.
In his latest outing, Bear and his pals go in search of eggs.
Bear “lumbers with his friends through the Strawberry Vale.” Raven finds a nest; climbing up, “The bear finds eggs!”: a refrain that appears throughout. Instead of eating the robin’s eggs, however, Bear leaves a gift of dried berries in the nest for the “soon-to-be-chicks.” Next, the friends find 10 mallard eggs (as bright blue as the robin’s), and Bear leaves sunflower seeds. Then the wail of Mama Meadowlark, whose bright yellow undercarriage strikes a warm golden note, leads them to promise to find her lost eggs. With his friends’ assistance, Bear finds one, and they decide to paint them “so they aren’t lost again.” Another is discovered, painted, and placed in Hare’s basket. After hours of persistent searching, Bear suddenly spots the remaining two eggs “in a small patch of clover.” Before they can return these eggs, the chicks hatch and rejoin their mother. Back at his lair, Bear, with his troupe, is visited by all 17 chicks and the robin, mallard, and meadowlark moms: “And the bear finds friends!” Though this sweet spring tale centers on finding and painting eggs, it makes no overt references to Easter. The soft green and blue acrylics, predictable rhymes, and rolling rhythm make this series installment another low-key natural read-aloud.
Cheery fun that will leave series fans “egg”-static. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781665936552
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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by Karma Wilson ; illustrated by AG Ford
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by Karma Wilson ; illustrated by Jane Chapman
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by Karma Wilson ; illustrated by Jane Chapman
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