Well-defined modeling of good citizenship.
A new bug comes to school; what will the other students do?
It’s the first day at a new school for an unnamed, ungendered green bug with spots. Outside the school log, one tall, magenta-colored bug introduces herself as Katydid and welcomes the newcomer. Other students react differently: One stares, another whispers, still another laughs—“but Katy didn’t.” Later, the teacher asks the new bug about the day. The responses are obvious: “ ‘Who welcomed you?’ / ‘Katydid!’ // ‘Who smiled at you?’ ‘Katydid!’ ” For each question, the new bug remembers a moment when Katy displayed this act of kindness. The culminating question sums up the importance of these acts: “ ‘Who made a friend today?’ / ‘Katydid!’ ” The text encompasses an entire day, maintaining symmetry and simplicity with repetition and concrete examples, helpful for young ones who are likely to encounter such social experiences. Importantly, it positions behavior expectations on the established students and not newcomers, modeling many different ways to be welcoming (and not). Lowery uses an animation-inflected style for the illustrations along with thick color gradients to create three-dimensional depth. Although the early pages have a heavy, shadowed appearance from the earth tones of the setting and the other bugs, the latter half is lighter and cheerful when the new bug’s school day memories are set against pastel backgrounds.
Well-defined modeling of good citizenship. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4413-3453-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peter Pauper Press
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
Sure to have little ones giggling.
Jacques is a hedgehog with a big secret: “I wear real, bona fide underwear.”
Our narrator received a mysterious package one day; an illustration shows a pair of underwear tied to a balloon with a note “from the Universe” floating down into Jacques’ burrow. Hedgehogs don’t wear underwear, however. Will Jacques be shunned? Jacques worries but comes to a decision: “I have to wear them. When I do I feel special.” Determined, Jacques, who’s been invited to a party, makes a dramatic entrance, with undies in hand. Jacques’ declaration (“I WEAR UNDERWEAR”) is met with remarks of dismay, before another hedgehog opens up about similar fears and shows off a pair of cowboy boots. More hedgehogs introduce themselves with their own confessions. The story ends with Jacques unveiling a painting of the underwear in a gallery filled with hedgehogs wearing all sorts of attire. Though the book is simple in plot, characters, and setting, it wins in its balance of bathroom humor, dramatic storytelling, and celebrations of individual expression. French words are peppered throughout, adding to the fun without detracting from the story for those unfamiliar with the language. The cartoonish illustrations brim with fun; Valdez relies heavily on geometric shapes (triangle noses for the hedgehogs; huge circles for their eyes). Details such as speech bubbles and recurring turtle and snake characters contribute to the outlandish humor.
Sure to have little ones giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781250814388
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The runaway cookie in this Mexican bakery is a soft, brown, stubby-tailed piglet as impertinently bold and smug in his continual escape as his Gingerbread Boy cousin. “Chase me! Chase me down the street. But this is one piggy you won’t get to eat! / ¡Córrele, córrele! ¡Y Córrele más! ¡Soy el cochinito que jamás comerás!” This bouncy dual refrain extends the familiar cumulative text, rendered in both English and Spanish, as piggy manages to elude Marta the baker, Lorenzo the mechanic, Mamá Nita the beautician, Joaquín the telephone repairman and a host of other neighborhood adults—until he is outsmarted by Rosa, a little girl on her way to school, who foxily “helps him” cross the street. Safely tucked into her backpack, piggy is both a welcome surprise and an excuse for Rosa’s lateness to class. Deep opaque acrylic paintings of a colorful barrio and its residents in pursuit add the right amount of cultural flavor to this vivid Latino retelling. Recipe appended. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55885-586-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
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