A serviceable introduction to monarch migration, with some bumps along the journey.
Ready for an adventure?
Young readers follow several eastern monarchs as they make a multigenerational migration across North America. The story begins with a pearl necklace–wearing butterfly laying an egg on a milkweed leaf. Soon a very ravenous caterpillar emerges, eats, grows, and begins her metamorphosis. This new protagonist sports a high-buttoned lacy collar as she travels. After a page turn, the third generation is introduced (this one in a ruffled collar), and we follow her amorous adventures until she also lays an egg, one that produces the final protagonist, complete with a lavaliere. This final butterfly travels onward, completing the circuit started by her great-grandparents. The book is narrated in a rhyme scheme that reads fairly well aloud, although the rhyming pattern fluctuates, and the thin font can be easily missed on some of the busier illustrations. The artwork, a mix of traditional and digital techniques, is attractive, though the various butterflies are differentiated only by changing neckwear designs—which may be a whisper too subtle for young readers. The changeover between generations is quick; readers who aren’t paying close attention may miss these crucial shifts. A page of backmatter offers more information on these butterflies and the dangers they face.
A serviceable introduction to monarch migration, with some bumps along the journey. (map) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781665943420
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A charming tale of an athlete who may not steal any bases but who will certainly steal readers’ hearts.
Ohtani, pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, teams up with Blank and Liem to tell the story of how his dog, Decoy, threw out a ceremonial first pitch.
It’s a big day! Decoy leaps “off the bed. Then back onto the bed. Then off the bed.” The enthusiastic pup heads outside to practice with his lucky baseball but is quickly distracted by squirrels (“we’ll play later!”), airplanes (“flyin’ high!”), and flowers (“smell ya soon!”). Dog and pitcher then head to the ballpark. In the locker room, Decoy high-paws Shohei’s teammates. It’s nearly time! But as Shohei prepares to warm up, Decoy realizes that he’s forgotten something important: his lucky ball. Without it, there will be “no championships, no parades, and no hot dogs!” Back home he goes, returning just in time. With Shohei at the plate, Decoy runs from the mound to his owner, rolling the ball into Shohei’s mitt for a “Striiiiike!” Related from a dog’s point of view, Ohtani and Blank’s energetic text lends the tale a sense of urgency and suspense. Liem’s illustrations capture the excitement of the first day of baseball season and the joys of locker room camaraderie, as well as Shohei and Decoy’s mutual affection—even when the ball is drenched in slobber, Shohei’s love for his pet shines through, and clearly, Decoy is focused when it matters.
A charming tale of an athlete who may not steal any bases but who will certainly steal readers’ hearts. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9780063460775
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
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