Fresh, funny, and as sweet as vanilla buttercream frosting.
A small fib spirals into a giant misunderstanding, but it’s nothing that cupcakes (and an apology!) can’t fix.
A brown-skinned, bespectacled young girl is thrilled when she catches a brilliant orange balloon. When two ants see the balloon and assume that it’s her birthday, she’s too flattered to correct them. Her little lie—“so little, she didn’t have to say anything”—will be all too relatable for many readers. But too late, the lie is off and growing. After no birthday party materializes, a fleet of agitated ants demand an “investicaketion,” a true delight of a portmanteau. Called on her lie, the girl has a pitch-perfect reckoning under a “Think-About-It” sign, a moment that epitomizes the narrative’s playful, absurd undercurrent. She reflects, takes accountability, and makes amends with an ant-approved compromise: “THERE SHALL BE CUPCAKES!” Morality tales often feel dour or weighty, but this one is relentlessly light. You can make mistakes, Henderson reminds readers, but you have the power to fix them. The whole book has a similarly airy feel, from the dazzling, midcentury art–inspired illustrations in a matte palette, with colorful bursts of amber, coral, and cerulean, to the frequent perspective changes that help readers empathize with the young protagonist. Smart touches, like the ants’ droll dialogue and the funky, slightly off-kilter typeface, add to the quirkiness.
Fresh, funny, and as sweet as vanilla buttercream frosting. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9780823461615
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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