Flying orcas ahead! A tale rich in love, loss, and windborne pool floaties.
An inflatable killer whale embarks on the adventure of a lifetime.
Finn is mostly content to live out his days in a heated swimming pool with his human family and all his other blow-up friends. Yet at night he wonders what else is out there in the world just beyond the fence. He finally gets his chance to find out when a gust of wind lifts the hapless orca up and out of his comfort zone and into the sky. Flying among airplanes and rainbows, Finn eventually ends up in the deep blue sea surrounded by actual orcas. But the real world is less enticing than he thought it would be. He longs for his family, and soon, fate restores him to the familiar. The inner life of an inanimate childhood playmate is always cause for interest, and this bouncy narrative touches on themes of friends, family, and home—and being careful what you wish for—all set within a reassuring framework. Featuring crayonlike textures, Hatch’s digital illustrations balance whimsy (Finn’s the ultimate fish out of water on his escapades) with more poignant moments. Hatch describes the story’s origins (her family’s pool toy was swept away during a storm) in an author’s note. Finn’s family is brown-skinned; other human characters vary in skin tone.
Flying orcas ahead! A tale rich in love, loss, and windborne pool floaties. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 12, 2026
ISBN: 9780823459568
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
The runaway cookie in this Mexican bakery is a soft, brown, stubby-tailed piglet as impertinently bold and smug in his continual escape as his Gingerbread Boy cousin. “Chase me! Chase me down the street. But this is one piggy you won’t get to eat! / ¡Córrele, córrele! ¡Y Córrele más! ¡Soy el cochinito que jamás comerás!” This bouncy dual refrain extends the familiar cumulative text, rendered in both English and Spanish, as piggy manages to elude Marta the baker, Lorenzo the mechanic, Mamá Nita the beautician, Joaquín the telephone repairman and a host of other neighborhood adults—until he is outsmarted by Rosa, a little girl on her way to school, who foxily “helps him” cross the street. Safely tucked into her backpack, piggy is both a welcome surprise and an excuse for Rosa’s lateness to class. Deep opaque acrylic paintings of a colorful barrio and its residents in pursuit add the right amount of cultural flavor to this vivid Latino retelling. Recipe appended. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55885-586-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
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