A wistful meditation on patience and discovery.
A girl and a dog lead parallel lives, until they meet.
Joy, a pigtailed youngster in a polka-dotted dress, longs for a dog. “A big dog. A little dog. A spotted dog. A curly dog. It didn’t matter.” But she’s willing to wait. As the omniscient narrator tells readers, “She’d know her dog when she saw him.” Jump, a playful pup, also has a wish. He longs for a kid: “a big kid. A little kid. A spotted kid. A curly kid. It didn’t matter.” But he’s patient. “He’d know his kid when he saw her.” In the spring, Joy carefully crafts a dog out of flowers. She names him Tulip. Alas, the flowers wilt. Jump carefully crafts a kid out of plants. He names her Fern. But the ferns also wilt. Each season, Joy and Jump create a friend out of natural materials to manifest their destiny. Then, the following spring, Joy and Jump finally meet—and both jump for joy. Ruelle packs in an impressive amount of clever wordplay in a relatively spare text. The repetitive rhythm of both Joy and Jump doing similar actions is reassuring, while Hooper’s brilliant, mostly black-and-white collaged world highlights the sepia-toned friends as they navigate their way toward each other. Of course, when they finally cross paths, the world blooms into color.
A wistful meditation on patience and discovery. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781662602023
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Astra Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
An instructive tale about big feelings, lightened up by a furious kid’s theatrics.
An angry child attempts to calm down.
A kid with paper-white skin, clad in a blue dress and striped tights, makes an absurd request: “Can we get a pet penguin, name it Marshmallow, and feed it carrots?” Mom, off-stage, says simply, “Not today,” and the tot transforms into a rather odd creature: a spicy nugget! The nugget is imperfectly ovoid in form, with red rosy cheeks, rage-filled dot-eyes, and a spiraling black-hole mouth. The sight gag works beautifully: When one feels truly angry, all poise disappears, leaving only a flailing ball of rage. Our protagonist hurls a teddy bear, unsuccessfully tries out a list of calming methods, and finally retreats to bed, where “I can feel my breathing; I know that I am safe.” The youngster reverts back to human form, and Mom arrives with kind words: “You are not your big feelings. You are not your angry thoughts.” The takeaway is unmistakable, especially at the story’s conclusion: It’s OK to get mad and important to practice coping strategies. The young narrator expresses emotion with fabulous vigor, though the story’s lilting rhyme scheme occasionally distracts from these outbursts with cuteness. Nonetheless, this increasingly enraged nugget-child is irresistible; anyone who’s grappled with overwhelming emotions will relate—in a word, everyone.
An instructive tale about big feelings, lightened up by a furious kid’s theatrics. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9798217042142
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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