An entertaining journey for viewers with few years or short attention spans.
Follow a series of subterranean mazes to a dragon’s lair—using map coordinates, collecting tokens, and spotting small designated items along the way.
Luna the dragon has stolen the blue-skinned gnomes’ gold, and readers willing to help them get it back will have to trace a wandering course along the busy roadways of Gnome City, past Toadstool Town, a tangle of tree roots, a set of Egyptian tombs, and other obstacles. Each double-page spread before Luna’s lair is ruled into 18 sections with coordinates in the margins. They teem with tiny motorists in need of direction, and there are frequent prompts such as, “What time is it now?” or “Oh no! How many mummies are on the loose?” that invite close looks at the smaller details in Boston’s winding cartoon scenes. As in a true atlas, adjacency on all sides is indicated with directional arrows. Once the stolen gold is recovered from beneath the sleeping dragon, a set of related exercises and activities on the closing page promises “More Fun Underground.” Like Boston’s similarly structured Under the Sea (2016), the overall route is relatively easy to trace, though here some vocabulary (“Can you see any canopic jars?”) may prove challenging.
An entertaining journey for viewers with few years or short attention spans. (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68297-046-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: QEB Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
A solid introduction to the ninth month of the year and all the joys it ushers in.
Martin’s latest in a series that personifies the months of the year follows a young girl who exemplifies all things fall.
Tan-skinned, bespectacled September is all about autumn, from the cozy sweater she wears to the red and green leaves tangled in her long hair. She’s thrilled to start school with Ms. Seasons, her new teacher, who gives the class an exciting new assignment: embarking on a fall nature watch and checking off signs of the new season. Friends August and October accompany September as they observe apple trees, a campfire, a scarecrow (and a crow), and, finally, the elusive fall-colored leaf. September, who has a cochlear implant and is of Latine heritage, also tells her classmates—and readers—about other important things going on this month. She gives presentations on Deaf Awareness Month (and goes over the American Sign Language alphabet) and Hispanic Heritage Month (and teaches her classmates the phrase “Hola, amigo”). The book closes with discussion questions, a prompt for readers, and an applesauce recipe. Though light on tension or conflict, the story serves its purpose well: introducing children to the hallmarks of the season. Kids nervous about back-to-school—another marker of September—will feel soothed by the protagonist’s sunny outlook. Martin’s illustrations appear digital and are rife with autumnal elements; September’s design is a particular highlight.
A solid introduction to the ninth month of the year and all the joys it ushers in. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781464261633
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
Laugh-out-loud fun for all.
Hilarious complications ensue when Nanette’s mom gives her the responsibility of buying the family baguette.
She sets out on her errand and encounters lots of distractions along the way as she meets and greets Georgette, Suzette, Bret with his clarinet, Mr. Barnett and his pet, Antoinette. But she remembers her mission and buys the baguette from Juliette the baker. And oh, it is a wonderful large, warm, aromatic hunk of bread, so Nanette takes a taste and another and more—until there is nothing left. Maybe she needs to take a jet to Tibet. But she faces her mother and finds understanding, tenderness, and a surprise twist. Willems is at his outlandish best with line after line of “ettes” and their absurd rhymes, all the while demonstrating a deep knowledge of children’s thought processes. Nanette and the entire cast of characters are bright green frogs with very large round eyes, heavily outlined in black and clad in eccentric clothing and hats. A highly detailed village constructed of cardboard forms the background for Nanette’s adventures. Her every emotion explodes all over the pages in wildly expressive, colorful vignettes and an eye-popping use of emphatic display type. The endpapers follow the fate of the baguette from fresh and whole to chewed and gone. Demands for encores will surely follow.
Laugh-out-loud fun for all. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-2286-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
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