DON'T EAT ME! THE ALMOST TRUE STORY OF BELLADONNA

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DON'T EAT ME! THE ALMOST TRUE STORY OF BELLADONNA

Name: DON'T EAT ME! THE ALMOST TRUE STORY OF BELLADONNA
Author: Kate Finney
ISBN: 9781592704347

by Kate Finney ; illustrated by Esmé Shapiro ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2025

Sympathy for the poisonous—an empathetic glimpse of a much-maligned beauty.

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Adaptation and survival take a front seat in this intriguing tale of a forward-thinking flower.

This intriguing bit of informational fiction follows the personal journey of a plant from delicious to deadly. Belladonna might be beautiful, but to the animals of the forest, she’s a 24-hour snack bar. Gnawed on by any number of hungry critters, she seeks guidance from Raspberry (who deters unwelcome visitors with thorns but allows little birds and mice to feast—and thus scatter raspberry seeds), Oak (who explains that the animals who gather acorns allow more oak trees to thrive), and Fungus (whose relatives use poison to ward off voracious animals). Determined to protect herself, Belladonna vows to change. Slowly, over “thousands of years,” she makes her insides poisonous. All is well and good, except that upon completion, she acquires a new fear: What if no one will eat her berries and spread her seeds now? Fortunately, just as Belladonna has changed, the local pheasant population has adapted right alongside her. As the author’s note is quick to point out, “Every single species on Earth, from plants to people, has developed its own adaptive strategy.” The story will leave readers with an understanding of why some plants can't be eaten—at least not by most creatures. Accompanied by lush art that imbues the various flora with expressive faces, the book also gets a great deal of comic mileage out of the different animals munching on Belladonna with gleeful abandon.

Sympathy for the poisonous—an empathetic glimpse of a much-maligned beauty. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025

ISBN: 9781592704347

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books

Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK LOST AND FOUND

From the Little Blue Truck series

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 18, 2026

Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed.

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Beep! Beep! Beep! Toad and Little Blue Truck get ready for a hayride.

After the titular vehicle is loaded with hay, Toad is nowhere to be found. “Beep! Beep! Beep! Where are you, Toad?” asks Little Blue Truck. All the barnyard animals look for him. Sheep searches the meadow. Goose and Duck check the pond. Others pitch in, too, but Toad seems to have disappeared…until Hen hears snoring coming from the pile of hay in the back of Little Blue Truck. Although the text’s scansion is imperfect in places (adults may want to pre-read to ensure a smooth read-aloud), the bouncy meter and rhyming text nevertheless capture the energy of the search and the farmyard community’s concern for Toad’s safety, making this a solid storytime choice. Eye-catching illustrations with rich, fully saturated colors balance the right level of detail while still highlighting the animal that is the focus of each verse. By introducing one farm animal at a time, Schertle also helps the youngest readers begin to identify barnyard animals by name and understand their unique farm homes. Traditional animal sounds are part of the text, and listeners will add them to their vocabulary. It all ends with the promised hayride, bringing the tale to a joyous ending.

Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026

ISBN: 9780063436121

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK AND RACER RED
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK MAKES A FRIEND
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

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TIME FOR SCHOOL, LITTLE BLUE TRUCK
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)