Kids enjoying the intricate visuals won’t worry that the story doesn’t make much sense.
It’s “the greatest show on dogs!”
Born on a drowsy basset hound, Sarafleana is a natural jumper. Snoozer the hound is actually home to a community of fleas; his pelt even boasts its own acrobatic troupe, The Fleatastics. Sarafleana and her siblings easily impress Mr. Itchy, the troupe’s leader, and Sarafleana seems destined for the tippy-top of the Parasite Pyramid. But that would mean staying still, and she doesn’t want to. Earning acclaim as “THE HIGHEST-JUMPING FLEA EVER” is her dream. One morning when Snoozer is at the dog park, the flea circus packs up and parachutes to Sparky, a dog napping nearby. As the crew sets up the circus tent and the hot dog stand, Sarafleana secretly practices. The circus begins, and Sarafleana’s siblings build their pyramid. She goes to the top, planning to impress everyone with her jumping. But, inexplicably, she can’t leap. The show continues and is at its fleanale when a child in the audience calls out for “another TREAT!” Uh-oh. Sparky perks up and starts to scratch, threatening the flea circus. Sarafleana becomes a hero by jumping all over and shouting “Treat,” distracting Sparky and allowing everyone to flee to safety. Desimini’s story is more than a bit disjointed, but her universe of fleas delights with boundless imagination and pockets of hilarious flea dialogue, vivaciously depicted.
Kids enjoying the intricate visuals won’t worry that the story doesn’t make much sense. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62979-303-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Toad and Little Blue Truck get ready for a hayride.
After the titular vehicle is loaded with hay, Toad is nowhere to be found. “Beep! Beep! Beep! Where are you, Toad?” asks Little Blue Truck. All the barnyard animals look for him. Sheep searches the meadow. Goose and Duck check the pond. Others pitch in, too, but Toad seems to have disappeared…until Hen hears snoring coming from the pile of hay in the back of Little Blue Truck. Although the text’s scansion is imperfect in places (adults may want to pre-read to ensure a smooth read-aloud), the bouncy meter and rhyming text nevertheless capture the energy of the search and the farmyard community’s concern for Toad’s safety, making this a solid storytime choice. Eye-catching illustrations with rich, fully saturated colors balance the right level of detail while still highlighting the animal that is the focus of each verse. By introducing one farm animal at a time, Schertle also helps the youngest readers begin to identify barnyard animals by name and understand their unique farm homes. Traditional animal sounds are part of the text, and listeners will add them to their vocabulary. It all ends with the promised hayride, bringing the tale to a joyous ending.
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026
ISBN: 9780063436121
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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