An enjoyable but somewhat unpolished and unfocused tween adventure.
Depner continues the escapades of young Fernsnickle Hooves in this third installment of an ongoing children’s book series.
Ten-year-old Fernsnickle is a student at the Oasis, a boarding school for girls near Miami. Mrs. Peabody, the school’s head teacher, is taking eight girls from the school, as well as her English cousin’s grandson, Oliver, on a field trip to Washington, D.C. However, despite the book’s title, Fernsnickle doesn’t arrive at the nation’s capital until two-thirds of the way through the book. First, she receives a letter from her friend Toby, who forwards an old missive from Fernsnickle’s mother, Maude Maryellen Hooves, and a photo. Inspired to find her mom, who left her with her grandmother when she was a baby, Fernsnickle appears on a TV show to publicly ask her to contact her; readers know that her mother is an undercover agent for the FBI. In Washington, D.C., the students touch a piece of the moon at the National Air and Space Museum and eat breakfast at the real-life Dog Tag Bakery, which teaches and trains military veterans. Fernsnickle’s classmates decide to hold a pop-up rally at the Capitol where she delivers a speech on bullying, housing shortages, and climate change; disappointingly, however, the speech’s text isn’t included. Overall, the book delivers some fun moments, including a meeting with the president of the United States. Fernsnickle is a likable character with a strong sense of ethics. However, she often uses nonsense rhyming word pairs such as ever and schmever and anyhoo and schmanyhoo, which could either amuse or irritate readers. References to events in previous books could also cause newcomers to feel out of the loop, and although Fernsnickle briefly mentions that she declined to live with her father, it’s not explained why they currently have no contact. Minor characters are thinly developed, so readers may find it hard to picture them.
An enjoyable but somewhat unpolished and unfocused tween adventure.Pub Date: May 8, 2022
ISBN: 979-8821153906
Page Count: 146
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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BOOK REVIEW
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