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LILY-MAY'S JOYFUL DAY

Name: LILY-MAY'S JOYFUL DAY
Author: John Schu
ISBN: 9781536238624

by John Schu ; illustrated by Holly Hatam ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2026

A worthwhile message, dampened by a ham-handed delivery.

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In this companion to Ruthie Rose’s Big Idea (2025), a girl introduces her class to the concept of joywalking.

Lily-May, a pink-skinned, freckle-faced redhead who will be familiar to readers of Schu’s earlier title, is nervous: It’s her turn to share what her teacher calls a “Bag of Y-O-U” with the class (they’re a racially diverse, wide-eyed group). Standing before the other kids, Lily-May pulls a piece of paper from her rainbow bag. The paper has one word on it—joywalking—which Lily-May barely manages to say aloud. With some prodding from a classmate, Lily-May explains that “a joywalk’s a time to listen and think, wander and roam. A time to explore ideas. A time for noticing.” Finding her courage, she suggests that the students give joywalking a try; with their teacher’s blessing, everyone heads outside. Joywalking is a lovely mindfulness-flavored idea that might appeal to young readers, but the book’s writing is stilted; real kids don’t speak the way this story’s children do (“Joywalking’s fun! I loved looking at the clouds”; “I was a little sad this morning. I feel much better now”), making it too obvious that the dialogue exists to telegraph the book’s message. Hatam’s likewise-blunt digital art gives the impression of a disharmonious mishmash of media and styles, including collage, photography, impasto, and cartoonish imagery.

A worthwhile message, dampened by a ham-handed delivery. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026

ISBN: 9781536238624

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
RUTHIE ROSE'S BIG IDEA
by John Schu ; illustrated by Holly Hatam

- BOOK REVIEW
LOUDER THAN HUNGER
by John Schu

- BOOK REVIEW
THIS IS A STORY
by John Schu ; illustrated by Lauren Castillo

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SPAGHETTI HEAD & CHICKEN FINGERS

by Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal ; illustrated by Erica Salcedo ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2026

Wild and wacky.

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A picture book from the comedy duo known as Rhett & Link, creators of the online juggernaut Good Mythical Morning.

Lumo is obsessed with chicken fingers; Saffy, who is new to town and anxious about starting school, finds comfort in the only food she likes: buttered spaghetti. The night before the first day of school, a thunderstorm rages, and each kid makes a wish—“to have chicken fingers at school,” in Lumo’s case; Saffy wishes for “the first thing off the top of her head: buttered spaghetti.” File under “Be careful what you wish for.” Lumo’s and Saffy’s respective physical changes (chicken fingers for fingers, spaghetti for hair) make navigating school a challenge but bring them together in the cafeteria, where they enjoy some new foods—and their new friendship. The plotting could have been sharper: Why do the kids’ bodies suddenly return to normal? And couldn’t the authors have thought up a less old-hat story-ending punch line? Nevertheless, McLaughlin and Neal get by on their charm, and the plot sets up some funny visuals. Salcedo’s cartoony Photoshop art features well-chosen artifacts from a typical kid’s life and captures the mortification of not fitting in, which will be familiar even to readers who have never experienced breaded fingers or noodle hair. Lumo is brown-skinned and dark-haired; Saffy is pale-skinned with disheveled reddish-brown hair.

Wild and wacky. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: June 16, 2026

ISBN: 9780063474154

Page Count: 32

Publisher: HarperPop/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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)