With Garth Williams' pictures, perfectly keyed to her verse, here are poems about the things Miss Brown liked:- cars, trains, fish, snow, people. The way she tells about them makes you love them too. Good reading aloud.
Pub Date: June 15, 1954
ISBN: 0307929620
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1954
Sweet and affirming.
After a little boy and his tiny elephant are barred from the Pet Club, they befriend other children with unusual pets.
The first-person narrative has a quiet, contemplative feel: “The trouble with having a tiny elephant for a pet is that you never quite fit in. / No one else has an elephant.” His pet is shy of sidewalk cracks: “I always go back and help him over. That’s what friends do: lift each other over the cracks.” Embodying dejection after the two turn from that large, titular sign on the door, a double-page spread—a Photoshop-augmented linoleum block print—depicts a dark teal cityscape slashed with raindrops and bobbing with black umbrellas. The Caucasian boy, his pet (in matching red scarves), and a little African-American girl in cornrows and a red-and-orange striped dress are the bright spots in this poignant tableau. Turns out that this girl—a pet skunk curled on her lap—has been turned away too. “He doesn’t stink,” she says. “No, he doesn’t,” concurs the boy and then suggests, “What if we start our own club?” Observant children will spot a porcupine, penguin, and giraffe peering from brownstone windows along the way; they and their children join others with equally exotic pets. Yoo’s concluding scenes depict a treehouse occupation (its restrictive message changed to “ALL ARE WELCOME”) and multiethnic, multispecies harmony.
Sweet and affirming. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-1647-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
Crews wore his bestselling author hat when he penned this charmer.
Actor and former NFL player Crews’ debut picture book tells the story of “a boy with BIG dreams…and a whole lot of hats.”
Terry scores big on the football field, but he’s also a gifted painter, singer, and more—conveyed through a montage of images that see him donning different chapeaux, from an artist’s beret to a chef’s hat. The week before the big game, however, Coach asks everyone to focus their energies on the gridiron, so Terry skips out on a new art project and talent show rehearsals and instead grabs his helmet to go full Football Terry. Though he leads his team to victory, he feels pigeonholed by others’ expectations (“Everyone wants me to be Football Terry or Artist Terry or Performer Terry”). Happily, his mother’s words—“Some days or weeks you may wear one hat more often, but that doesn’t mean the others are gone”—encourage the young boy to make time for his many passions. A feather in the cap of the multitalented Crews, this sensitively written book delivers an empowering message about staying true to oneself, conveyed at a time when children are too often scheduled up to their eyeballs. His use of caps as a metaphor makes a somewhat sophisticated concept feel concrete to a young audience. Cherislin’s soft-focus illustrations, reminiscent of Vanessa Brantley-Newton’s artwork, depict a determined Black child whose zest for life is palpable.
Crews wore his bestselling author hat when he penned this charmer. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9780316499996
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
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