A breezy tale with appealing images.
A mythical “Garden Friend” explores a real-life garden in this picture book by author/illustrator Baker.
Each Wednesday, the Garden Friend—a small, brown anthropomorphic creature wearing an acorn cap—arrives at the home of his human friend, the Gardener, “to share stories and treats and walks along the garden path.” The unnamed Gardener comes from “a land far away, across the sea.” After sharing a cup of tea and a snack, the two head out into the garden, where they look at all the plants and insects there. The Gardener “knows how each plant grows best and smiles at each new blossom” as the Garden Friend follows closely behind her. When he goes to bed, he reflects on how much he values the Gardener’s friendship. The book then encourages readers to befriend “someone from a land faraway” and offers a little information about Josephine, the real-life person on whom Gardener is based. It’s a slight story, overall, but the text is lively. (The story has a brief reference to birds singing “a song of God,” which may not appeal to secular readers.) The art is delightful, using a combination of drawing and photography, often featuring the illustrated Garden Friend in photographed scenes of plants and insects. The photos are sharp and engaging, and Baker’s horticultural drawings are precise and detailed.
A breezy tale with appealing images.Pub Date: April 18, 2026
ISBN: 9798992654547
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Garden Friend Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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