Perhaps next time Maggi and Milo will learn about the golden rule
In their second outing, Maggi and her huge dog, Milo, visit a park where they make three new friends.
Maggi, a white girl with glasses and cowgirl boots, is taken to the park by her mother, who wants her daughter to make some friends other than her dog. The small park doesn’t allow dogs inside, so the mom sits outside on a bench next to Milo. Maggi meets a Latino boy named Antonio Carlos Enrique III (Ace for short), a redheaded white girl in a tutu named Sarah, and a black girl named Sydney, who (inexplicably) calls herself Amelia Earhart. They play together for a while and then decide to walk the dog. Maggi requests seven items (ranging from dandelions to sparkly rocks to acorns) to be collected from around the park as payment for dog-walking privileges. The children take turns walking Milo (outside the park gate), and the group then uses the collected natural items in further play, with two of the friends kindly teaching Maggi how to make something new. The morally questionable notion of charging newly acquired friends for the privilege of walking the dog is never addressed. While the plot is rather ho-hum, the story is told in an energetic, clever tone, and the digitally produced illustrations have a fluid appeal, with scratchy ink outlines and a loose, breezy style that lends immediacy to the overall effort. The cast of cute kids illustrated with large heads and skinny appendages is clearly positioned for more entries in the series.
Perhaps next time Maggi and Milo will learn about the golden rule . (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3776-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees.
After Duncan finds his crayons gone—yet again—letters arrive, detailing their adventures in friendship.
Eleven crayons send missives from their chosen spots throughout Duncan’s home (and one from his classroom). Red enjoys the thrill of extinguishing “pretend fires” with Duncan’s toy firetruck. White, so often dismissed as invisible, finds a new calling subbing in for the missing queen on the black-and-white chessboard. “Now everyone ALWAYS SEES ME!…(Well, half the time!)” Pink’s living the dream as a pastry chef helming the Breezy Bake Oven, “baking everything from little cupcakes…to…OTHER little cupcakes!” Teal, who’s hitched a ride to school in Duncan’s backpack, meets the crayons in the boy’s desk and writes, “Guess what? I HAVE A TWIN! How come you never told me?” Duncan wants to see his crayons and “meet their new friends.” A culminating dinner party assembles the crayons and their many guests: a table tennis ball, dog biscuits, a well-loved teddy bear, and more. The premise—personified crayons, away and back again—is well-trammeled territory by now, after over a dozen books and spinoffs, and Jeffers once more delivers his signature cartooning and hand-lettering. Though the pages lack the laugh-out-loud sight gags and side-splittingly funny asides of previous outings, readers—especially fans of the crayons’ previous outings—will enjoy checking in on their pals.
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780593622360
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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