A winner, day or night
Protagonist JoJo is old enough to have her own bedroom and doesn’t have to sleep with her big sister, Margaret, or anyone else…maybe.
As JoJo happily carries blankets to her new room, Margaret predicts that she’ll be back. JoJo pooh-poohs the notion. But after JoJo turns off her light and hunkers down, a lion steps out from behind the drapes. JoJo quickly hustles to Margaret’s room to tell her. Margaret suggests she make a “No Lions Allowed” sign. JoJo does and tapes it over her bed. After the lion reads the sign, it leaves; however, more animals appear. JoJo adds each animal’s name to the sign, which works until the curious tiger is confused by the sign. JoJo could return to her sister’s animal-free room, but instead she thinks of a way to solve the problem herself. Jacobson tackles the perennial desire of children to resist bedtime with a unique twist, her understated, patterned text totally in tune with her readers. Neonakis’ engaging use of color and composition make this a real page-turner. The interplay between text and illustrations may initially have some older readers skeptical that any animals are actually bedeviling JoJo, but the truth becomes clear in a dramatic, tension-filled sequence. The enormous bulks of JoJo’s nighttime animals, who seem as tentative as JoJo despite their fearsome looks, make for highly amusing compositions. JoJo and Margaret present white.
A winner, day or night . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0211-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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