A compelling, immersive, and wholly empathetic musing on home.
A blue van is home for a young child.
Old Blue is both a cozy living space and an opportunity for adventure, keeping the family safe as they roam the country from town to the mountains and beyond. Scenes of the family playing cards in the back of the vehicle while it rains outside and eating soup around a cozy campfire are depicted in soft, impressionistic watercolors, dominated by blues, golds, and oranges. It’s clear that the young protagonist, who narrates, feels sheltered here. Yet the child also longs for a “forever home,” especially when ostracized by classmates for this unusual living situation. The youngster finds comfort snuggling with Mama and exploring nature. Leaning into imaginative play, the child truly feels peaceful. An especially moving spread depicts the child cross-legged on the roof of the parked van, hair blown back by the wind, arms outstretched: “I’m never lonely when I imagine I belong to the wind.” Expertly capturing a child’s perspective, Judge’s matter-of-fact text is tinged with deep emotion—this is both a paean to a temporary home and a wish for more. Her sumptuous illustrations glow with warmth, inviting readers to linger. In the backmatter, Judge explains that the story stems from her own childhood experiences and provides information on housing insecurity, which will help adults explain the concept to children. Characters are light-skinned.
A compelling, immersive, and wholly empathetic musing on home. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9781419771521
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
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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