A silly story infused with plenty of animal facts—and more than a few chuckles.
Following I Am Picky (2022) and I Am Friendly (2024), another tale of a most unself-aware creature.
A sloth tries to persuade readers that it isn’t lazy, but rather “turbocharged,” a “lightning-quick beast.” “Watch as I zoom to my favorite branch.” The sloth’s sleepy saucer eyes hilariously belie that assertion. And as our protagonist hangs from its favorite branch, a time-lapse montage depicts life passing the slow-moving sloth by: A pair of parrots incubate eggs, which eventually hatch; a big cat watches over her own cubs. Tracy has a sly way of folding in facts: “Eat my fuzz,” says the sloth as it moves through the trees. “(Just kidding. Sloths are herbivores. We don’t eat fuzz.)” Lounging in a bed of flowers, the sloth shares another talent: Its ability to rotate its head 270 degrees, which helps it monitor dangerous situations. But zipping around the forest is tiring, and the sloth is definitely good at napping, “anytime, anyplace.” More fun facts follow (sloths poop only once per week), but here they interrupt the flow of the story, which picks up again when the sloth takes a dip in the water (and actually proves relatively quick) and jokes about racing a turtle but opts for a nap instead. Kraan’s animals are cartoonish with big, engaging eyes. Using a combination of woodcut prints, gouache paint, and digital collage, her illustrations play with perspective, encouraging readers to turn the book around and upside down.
A silly story infused with plenty of animal facts—and more than a few chuckles. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9780374391171
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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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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