The small hero’s grit and happy ending guarantee another success for this popular author and illustrator duo.
Jonty Gentoo, a brave, determined zoo penguin, embarks on an epic journey.
When Jonty Gentoo hears about penguin colonies at the South Pole, he yearns to go there. Eventually he escapes, leaving his loving aunts (no parents are mentioned) and caring keepers in search of adventure. Unclear on the concept of a geographic pole (he’s initially confused when he encounters a flagpole, a barge pole, and a tent pole) and tired of walking, he jumps into the sea and delightedly swims through sparkling, food-filled waters. But when he emerges onto the ice, he finds no penguins, even after weeks pass. Bearded seals threaten to eat him, and the polar bear who saves him breaks the news: Jonty has traveled north. A tern accustomed to globe-spanning migration offers guidance, and “the bird in the sea and the bird in the air” travel south. Exhausted, Jonty lucks onto an Antarctic expedition ship and is taken aboard. On land he sees emperor and Adélie penguins and finally a “heartwarming huddle of gorgeous gentoos.” The story is heartwarming, too, and the rhythms rock us through the miles of migration with reassuring and spot-on rhymes. Jonty and the bear are accurately depicted, though slightly anthropomorphized. Scheffler’s firmly outlined art gives humans (who vary in skin tone) flat profiles but depicts whales, swordfish, owl, seals, and more in beautiful color and detail.
The small hero’s grit and happy ending guarantee another success for this popular author and illustrator duo. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781546134206
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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