A marvelous meditation on community and makeshift family.
For one youngster, a blackout ends up being more of an adventure than an inconvenience.
“It all happened on an afternoon like any other.” In this tale translated from Spanish, narrator Paula (pale-skinned, with chubby cheeks and pigtails), who lives with Dad and their dog, describes the day the power went out in their four-unit, five-story apartment building, home to a small, ethnically diverse assortment of kids, parents, and seniors. Amavisca’s dainty illustrations are centered on a building—“the prettiest one” in Paula’s unnamed city—whose improbable narrowness reinforces the story’s cozy, small-island-of-humanity vibe. Residents typically help one another out (“Sometimes, when my dad is really busy with work, Felipe’s grandpa picks us up from school”); during the blackout, neighbors lend a hand in new ways, as when elderly Mrs. Antonia, who lives on the top floor and sometimes needs assistance with her grocery shopping, hosts everyone for dinner because she’s the only one with a gas stove. For Paula and the other youngsters of the building, the blackout is thrilling, and when the lights come back on, “Saida, Felipe, and I shrugged at each other sadly.” There’s also a poignant thread about another upside to the power outage: It makes Paula’s father, who is often on the phone for work, more available. Of course, what happened during the blackout was partly internal: For Paula and others, it stoked feelings of belonging, gratitude, and comfort.
A marvelous meditation on community and makeshift family. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9791388132001
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NubeOcho
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
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
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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