Trouble yourself to check this one out.
A story about making friends and ditching assumptions.
The anthropomorphic squirrel narrator is alarmed when a bear moves in next door, immediately assuming this new neighbor is Trouble with a capital T. The squirrel lives with a tiny mouse named Chamomile, who acts as a quasi-child and who brings out protective feelings in the squirrel as they overhear noises from the other side of the wall that divides their apartment from the bear’s. Readers privy to a cross section of the building will see that the bear is not doing anything alarming and that the squirrel’s fears are unfounded. Chamomile also discovers this truth before the squirrel does and befriends the bear. When the squirrel can’t find Chamomile after an encounter with the bear at the supermarket and fears the worst, those fears are put to rest with a scene of peaceable tranquility in the bear’s living room, and the squirrel eats crow. Next on the menu are tea and cookies shared among the trio of new friends. “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is the clear message, but readers would do well to judge this book by its eye-catching art. Starting with the cover, it offers playful cartoon characterizations, and the incorporation of collaged photos of teapots and other items from the real world underscores the real-world application of the story’s heartfelt message. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 20% of actual size.)
Trouble yourself to check this one out. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11404-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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
The runaway cookie in this Mexican bakery is a soft, brown, stubby-tailed piglet as impertinently bold and smug in his continual escape as his Gingerbread Boy cousin. “Chase me! Chase me down the street. But this is one piggy you won’t get to eat! / ¡Córrele, córrele! ¡Y Córrele más! ¡Soy el cochinito que jamás comerás!” This bouncy dual refrain extends the familiar cumulative text, rendered in both English and Spanish, as piggy manages to elude Marta the baker, Lorenzo the mechanic, Mamá Nita the beautician, Joaquín the telephone repairman and a host of other neighborhood adults—until he is outsmarted by Rosa, a little girl on her way to school, who foxily “helps him” cross the street. Safely tucked into her backpack, piggy is both a welcome surprise and an excuse for Rosa’s lateness to class. Deep opaque acrylic paintings of a colorful barrio and its residents in pursuit add the right amount of cultural flavor to this vivid Latino retelling. Recipe appended. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55885-586-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
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