A cheeky inverted fairy tale with a scientific bent and a feminist heart.
A retelling of “Cinderella” centered on an animal unlikely to get the Disney treatment.
“Once upon a warm and murky lake, there lived a quick and clever salamander named Axolotl-Ella.” Axolotl-Ella has plans—“huge plans,” stresses the book’s peppy omniscient narrator: She wants to meet the Prince. (As it turns out, it’s not for the reason that readers of fairy tales might expect.) Axolotl-Ella attends all three nights of the King’s Festival, and each night, she dazzles the Prince, but he’s such a self-absorbed gasbag that before she can get a word in edgewise, it’s midnight, when she must leave. On the festival’s last night, Axolotl-Ella makes a dramatic exit: Her arm comes off because the Prince was holding her hand when she fled. (The narrator explains that axolotls can regrow missing body parts—”Cool, right?”—although the Prince, an axolotl himself, somehow doesn’t know this.) The Prince sets out to find his “poor beautiful princess” with the missing arm, inspiring Axolotl-Ella’s jealous stepsisters to yank off one another’s arms and claim to be the missing princess. OK, that sounds gruesome, but it’s played for laughs that are helped along by Cho’s loose, cartoonish art in juicy, rambunctious colors. A funny running gag involves Axolotl-Ella’s unwillingness to bother with high-heeled party slippers: “Shoes made of glass?...Worst idea ever.”
A cheeky inverted fairy tale with a scientific bent and a feminist heart. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 2, 2026
ISBN: 9780593837993
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
© 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.
