Dinosaurs, rhymes, an obstinate child—what’s not to like?
A youngster finds an inspired way to put off bedtime.
A redheaded, light-skinned child in a green dinosaur costume is having a grand time in what looks like a playroom, tossing around a dino stuffie (“Dino soar”), impersonating a dino (“Dino ROAR”), and so on. Who can blame the kid for not wanting to drop everything to tackle a chore chart (“To do: brush teeth…”)? Chores are, after all, a “dino BORE!” The little one decides to draw a picture of a garden that includes an orange door—might it be a “dino door”? The kid walks through it (it’s that kind of story) and explores a sunny, flower-and-tree-filled land of dinos. Funk is resourceful when it comes to adhering to his self-imposed minimalist rhyme scheme; readers can expect a “dino s’more” before a concluding “dino snore,” which finds the all-tuckered-out kid fast asleep in bed back at home. The idea of a realm conjured by a child as an escape from conditions imposed by a killjoy offstage parent calls to mind Where the Wild Things Are, although Kurilla isn’t trying to be Maurice Sendak. Featuring the cushiony edges and eye-popping palette of a Barney & Friends episode, her cartoony digital art gives readers everything they need to know—a heavy lift in a book with minimal text.
Dinosaurs, rhymes, an obstinate child—what’s not to like? (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781665957830
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
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
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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
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