A magnificently told tale of compassion for the natural world.
A story of love from the water’s edge.
A shy brown-skinned girl catches a lionfish in her small bucket before releasing it. The next day, she discovers a baby shark stranded in the tidepools. She worries for the shark’s safety—the heat is oppressive, and her brother Sam and his friends want to sell the creature to fishermen. Though the child tells the little shark to be still, the other kids spot the animal and plot to catch her. Summoning strength “from a deep place. An ancient place,” the protagonist clenches her fists and shouts, “NO!” Surprised, the others back off. The relieved narrator watches over the shark until dusk, when her parents and, eventually, Sam come help look after the animal until high tide comes and washes her back out. Marley’s luminescent illustrations bathe the pages in cerulean, cobalt, azure, sapphire, and teal as well as emerald, olive, chartreuse, and, of course, sea green, immersing readers in the watery setting and beckoning them to care. Where rusts and browns meet blues and greens, the shark and the girl wait…until purples, pinks, and deep indigoes envelop them both. Dulak takes a skillfully light touch to fostering environmental stewardship in young kids while showcasing the beauty of the Caribbean setting; in an author’s note, she explains that she drew inspiration from her dad’s memories of growing up in Barbados.
A magnificently told tale of compassion for the natural world. (what to do if you catch something in a tidepool) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781536239409
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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