Brilliant; a true “treat (that’s nice and sweet).”
A tranquil exaltation of all there is to love about spring.
Simple but profound, this perfectly petite board book is the embodiment of the adage “less is more.” Cataloging the natural world in short phrases, Barnett understands how a child’s world is both expansive (“the house,” “the sky”) and intimate (a downpour-ready “perfect hat,” “me”). Collectively, the list coalesces into a meditative rhyme—tighter in the beginning and end and leading to a satisfying finale: “It’s my favorite time of year.” Each page includes seasonally significant elements, such as buds on “the tree” or sprouts in “the garden.” Klassen’s muted, earthy colors and balanced compositions in his signature watercolor and pencil style intertwine beautifully with Barnett’s contemplative text. There’s a murky, ambient light about the unpretentious depictions of rural landscapes and surrounding the pensive “wise old cat.” Some pages are daringly empty, just birds or swaths of gray-tinted, gossamer sky. Part of a quartet of seasonal books publishing simultaneously, this is a standalone delight, but when all four titles are read together, the set shines all the brighter. Anchored by identical text, the series will have readers poring over the small yet meaningful changes from book to book. A “something red” (a wagon) overflows with spring rain and fall leaves, patiently awaits summer play, and disappears under winter snow. Pleasingly, the light quality alters alongside the passing year. The child who appears throughout has tan skin.
Brilliant; a true “treat (that’s nice and sweet).” (Board book. 0-6)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781774886731
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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