A masterwork of visual storytelling that honors both animal sacrifice and the sustaining power of love during wartime.
An almost wordless tribute to the messenger dogs who carried vital communications across battlefields during World War I.
Rayne follows a child who answers the call to donate a beloved pet to the war effort, then tracks the dog’s journey from training to frontline service. The tale is told entirely through sequential art panels that shift in size and pace to control the narrative rhythm. The illustrations, created with ink, watercolor, colored pencil, and pigment made from the soil of northern France, are extraordinary in their emotional range and technical mastery. Warm golds and greens suffuse peaceful domestic scenes, while the battlefield sequences explode in fiery oranges and oppressive blacks, the shifting palette mirroring the dog’s trajectory from safety to danger. Every character—human and canine—is rendered with remarkable expressiveness; the dog’s ears, posture, and eyes telegraph fear, determination, and devotion without a single word. Small details accumulate power: the child’s bowed head, a handler’s gentle touch, the dog’s focused gaze across no-man’s-land. The paneled format creates a movielike flow that guides readers through moments of tenderness and terror with equal clarity. Extensive backmatter provides photos and historical context about the British War Dog School and messenger dog training, as well as the other animals of World War I, grounding this intimate story in documented history. Most characters present white.
Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781665982788
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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