Cheery comforts and the lightest of personality clashes define this newest entry in an already wonderful series.
“She was going to have to embrace this change, whether she wanted to or not.”
Given that the Winnie-the-Pooh books (Castillo’s most obvious influence) ended with Christopher Robin starting school, it makes total sense that this story begins with that same earth-shattering rite of passage. It’s tan-skinned young Annika Mae’s first day, and her leaving inspires her woodland friends (last seen in 2022’s A Place To Call Home) to create a school of their own. Everyone will teach the subject in which they are an expert. Hedgehog, beset by anxiety on a normal day, now finds herself wracked with indecision. She loves art, but is she an “expert” at it? After Owl teaches beginning vocabulary, Beaver building, Mole geography, and Hen math (all to varying degrees of success), Hedgehog has an encounter with Annika Mae that changes her perspective on doing what you love. Like the other books in the series, this one taps into the best elements of classic bedtime read-alouds (the first sentence of Chapter 1 begins with “In the great forest, beside the river, in a cozy fort”). Mild conflicts between characters are gently resolved, and the author displays a pitch-perfect understanding of child psychology as she explores Hedgehog’s uncertainties. Alongside her deft language, Castillo works in some humor, too, as when Owl’s incessant corrections are “bird-splained” to the other teachers.
Cheery comforts and the lightest of personality clashes define this newest entry in an already wonderful series. (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: July 14, 2026
ISBN: 9780593898963
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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