A well-intentioned story about body positivity and inner beauty that could benefit from the prescription to show, not tell.
Reggie Red, a young White girl, is so named because of her freckles and ruddy hair “with curls so big.”
Photo day is coming up in school, and Reggie wants to look like the girls she has seen in pictures online. She attempts to straighten her hair and make it lie flat. When that fails, she resorts to coloring her hair brown using chocolate sauce but merely makes a huge, sticky mess. She tries covering her freckles with her grandmother’s makeup and even tries on Grandma’s silver wig. Unsatisfied and dejected, she turns to her mother, who teaches her that many online photos are fake and dispenses wisdom: “Beauty is like / the roots of a tree. / The parts that matter / are the ones you can't see.” Comforted, Reggie goes to school on photo day feeling “radiant” and “light as a feather.” When she discovers that Tilly, the tallest girl in class, is self-conscious about her height, Reggie knows just what to say to her. Layton’s narrative offers a much-needed reminder that confidence looks different on everyone; however, the text is pedestrian, the rhymes are sometimes forced, and the constructions occasionally awkward. Timmis’ cartoony digital illustrations are serviceable but not much more. Body acceptance is framed as a purely female issue, which feels out of touch. The main cast is White. Contrary to the book’s message about body diversity, background characters are all slim and mostly White.
A well-intentioned story about body positivity and inner beauty that could benefit from the prescription to show, not tell. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4994-8961-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Windmill Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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