A gentle and respectful introduction to the grieving process.
Sharp offers an illustrated children’s story about schoolkids coping with a classroom pet’s demise.
The story opens on Maggie, a young girl looking forward to seeing Sweetie Pie, the class guinea pig. The previous night, Ms. Lamms, her teacher, took the guinea pig home because the animal wasn’t feeling well. When class starts this morning, Ms. Lamms instructs the students to take a deep breath. “Did you know that when it is time for us to leave this earth, we take our last breath?” she asks them. She then informs the kids that Sweetie Pie took her last breath that morning. When the children realize that Sweetie Pie has died, they are full of questions: “Where is she now?” “Can we see her?” “Does she look scary now?” Maggie cries, and Ms. Lamms affirms that death is sad. She encourages the students to share memories of Sweetie Pie, and they recall the guinea pig’s penchant for putting her paws on the sides of her cage, snacking on organic carrots and lettuce, and chewing Kleenex boxes. Then Ms. Lamms suggests burying Sweetie Pie in a shoebox, and the students create art to add to the box: “We’re still sad, but we feel better after making art for Sweetie Pie and sharing our love for her,” Maggie says. Sharp provides children and their parents with an emotionally intelligent blueprint for discussing death. Maggie expresses a range of genuine emotions about Sweetie Pie’s passing, from confusion to sadness to nostalgia. Ms. Lamms compassionately guides the kids’ grieving process, but also allows them agency in coping with the event. Sharp evokes sensory memories of Sweetie Pie, including her unique call, twinkly eyes, soft fur, and veggie-scented breath. Pritchett’s soft, warm illustrations capture the characters’ sadness with teary eyes and sad frowns. However, the depiction of grieving is somewhat speedier and more linear than it is in real life, and although Maggie and Ms. Lamms are sufficiently developed as characters, others receive little attention.
A gentle and respectful introduction to the grieving process.Pub Date: April 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781962416757
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Brandylane Publishers, Inc.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
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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