A delightful tale of cooperation and compassion.
A couple of turtles lead the charge to return sea stars to water in Welton’s illustrated children’s book.
On a beautiful night, lit by a full moon, clouds roll in, bringing with them a great storm. Huge waves crash onto the seashore. When morning comes and the storm has passed, a group of sea stars find themselves trapped by kelp on a sandy beach. Murtle and Max, a couple of royal—and possibly magical—turtles notice the starfish calling for help. The benevolent turtles, wearing golden crowns, waste no time answering the call: “Birds bring a carpet from the sky. / ‘Hop on, sea stars, get set to fly.’ // The birds each grab a carpet string. / ‘Well, now you've got our wings,’ they sing.” Owls, otters, ducks, and dolphins join the rescue effort. Eventually, thanks to the turtles and their sea-dwelling friends, the sea stars are returned safely to the water. Pham’s vivid, full-page cartoon illustrations embellish the narrative with enchanting details: Max, the larger of the two turtles, wields a scepter with a golden star at the tip; when he waves it, gold and pink ribbons waft through the air, helping the rescue effort along. The sea is rendered in brilliant blues, greens, and white frothy waves and bubbles, illuminated by shards of sunlight, effectively capturing the motion of waves and tides. The story is related in poetry; most pages contain a single rhyming couplet written in tetrameter, giving the story a charming singsong quality. The sparseness of the text is one of the book’s strengths, as it leaves space for the expressive images. For example, as the rescue nears a close, the illustration shows a menagerie of sea creatures and birds, united and proud, all gently carrying the sea stars home, and the text simply reads: “Don't stop until our work is done— / Make a difference to each one!” The exciting, collaborative rescue operation is bookended by moments of calm, ending with a celebration.
A delightful tale of cooperation and compassion.Pub Date: April 10, 2025
ISBN: 9798899000027
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Bookfox Press
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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BOOK REVIEW
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