A quirky, vivacious tale of friendship and fast thinking.
In Kolouch’s picture book, an emotionally expressive dog and her frenetic human friend must find a way to carry all their possessions and make it to the store before closing time.
Mrs. Crockess, an anthropomorphized hound with a pink collar and pink tea-shade glasses, lives with the Briggs family, depicted as pale-skinned and russet-haired. Mrs. Crockess likes Mrs. Briggs (who reads to her) and Mr. Briggs (whom she helps with the dishes), but she loves young Ivy Briggs the most. One day when they’re playing music together—Mrs. Crockess on drums, Ivy on a pink guitar—the youngster breaks a string. They need to get to the music store before it closes, but how will Mrs. Crockess carry her money, keys, phone, map, bone, and so on? Kolouch narrates in straightforward, nonrhyming narrative prose and dialogue, presented in a slightly shaky typeface but artfully integrated within Bouloubasis’ distinctive, original cartoon illustrations. The artwork masterfully captures the energetic, can-do personalities of the two main characters; Ivy’s bird’s-nest hair is very nearly a character in its own right. The images also offer lovely background details, such as hand-drawn wall art. The author makes astute use of repetition and reversal to invest the music-store mission with urgency. Young readers will embrace the duo’s madcap adventure.
A quirky, vivacious tale of friendship and fast thinking.Pub Date: May 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781779443519
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Miriam Laundry Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
