Imbued with a sweetly simple takeaway, an endearing adventure with a plucky pullet.
In her third outing, a well-meaning chick learns the importance of a good sense of humor.
After Peg finds an egg left in a field all by itself, she remembers how scared she felt all alone in her shell and decides to take care of it. She keeps it warm, safe, and dry. But Peg grows impatient and gives the egg a little nudge, which sends it bouncing down a hill and into the farmyard. Suddenly she discovers it’s not an egg after all; it’s just a speckled ball. Embarrassed, Peg’s tempted to run, hide, or scream, but she realizes the best thing to do is laugh at herself. Peg is a cute little chick, with fluffy yellow feathers and big cartoon eyes. Most of the illustrations feature the green field, but there is plenty of emotion and movement in the simple setting. One stunning layout shows Peg determined to protect her egg from the rain, shielding it with a few small green leaves, raindrops rushing all around her. When the egg starts to roll, with Peg darting after it, a blur of feathers and color ricochets across the page. The message that everyone errs from time to time is simple and effectively conveyed without belaboring the point. The just-right blend of silliness and concise lesson make the tale appropriate for preschoolers.
Imbued with a sweetly simple takeaway, an endearing adventure with a plucky pullet. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9798889836155
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Beaming Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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