A tender, gorgeously illustrated escape into nature.
Ryner’s debut picture book explores the daily life of a young kangaroo in Australia’s beautiful bush setting.
Maxie Roo is an Eastern Grey kangaroo. He rests beneath a distinctive, yellow-blossomed golden wattle tree, digs with his claws, munches on flowers, and goes bounding amid the rosellas, galahs, and cockatoos, jumping so high that he feels like he’s flying among the birds. Maxie’s best friend is another young kangaroo named Indie. One day, Indie spots a fox and hops away in fright. She and Maxie are separated, and for a while they become lost in the bush. Relieved to find each other again, they make their way back down to the pasture, where a “mob” of kangaroos has gathered in the setting sun. Maxie’s mother hugs him tight. The author narrates in gentle verses, their uncomplicated meter capturing something of a kangaroo’s hopping gait: “The pair made a plan. / Their steps they retraced. / Along the cool creek, / they hopped in great haste.” The joeys’ explorations provide a safe adventure for young readers, and Ryner’s delightful, double-page watercolor illustrations bring the Australian outback to vivid life, including the subdued landscapes and stately gum trees, the bursts of color in the forms of birds and flowers, and the young roos themselves, full of soft-eyed wonder. The book concludes with a two-page addendum relating facts about Australian flora and fauna, wildlife sanctuaries, and the real-life Maxie and Indie.
A tender, gorgeously illustrated escape into nature.Pub Date: today
ISBN: 9780645569667
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Red Rabbit Books
Review Posted Online: July 22, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
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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