An inspiring tale for inventors of all ages.
A young girl secretly invents a machine to impress her father.
Cleonardo wishes to be an inventor like her father, Geonardo, and grandfather Leonardo. While her father welds metal and hammers bolts, she sources her materials from nature. Cleo offers to help her father for their town’s annual Grand Festival of Inventions, but he does not take her suggestions seriously. In order to impress her father, Cleo decides create her own invention for the festival. With the help of her grandfather and his favorite tool, she secretly constructs her machine using materials found in the forest. Missing his daughter by his side, Geonardo invents his greatest piece, hoping to lure Cleo back to his workshop. On the day of the festival. Geonardo excitedly releases his invention, a mechanical bird, only to have it malfunction and hurtle toward the crowds. It’s up to Cleo to save her townspeople using her forest-inspired invention. GrandPré creates a spirited heroine with both her words and her illustrations. She effortlessly depicts Cleo’s unconventional imagination with the flowers woven through her wavy brown hair and her description of the forest Cleo loves. The story will inspire young readers to embrace their creativity, no matter their preferred medium. Cleo and her family appear to be white; their Renaissance-inflected town is cheerily diverse.
An inspiring tale for inventors of all ages. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-439-35764-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers.
Two little rats decide to show the world how tough they are, with unpredictable results.
Louie and Ralphie Ratso want to be just like their single dad, Big Lou: tough! They know that “tough” means doing mean things to other animals, like stealing Chad Badgerton’s hat. Chad Badgerton is a big badger, so taking that hat from him proves that Louie and Ralphie are just as tough as they want to be. However, it turns out that Louie and Ralphie have just done a good deed instead of a bad one: Chad Badgerton had taken that hat from little Tiny Crawley, a mouse, so when Tiny reclaims it, they are celebrated for goodness rather than toughness. Sadly, every attempt Louie and Ralphie make at doing mean things somehow turns nice. What’s a little boy rat supposed to do to be tough? Plus, they worry about what their dad will say when he finds out how good they’ve been. But wait! Maybe their dad has some other ideas? LaReau keeps the action high and completely appropriate for readers embarking on chapter books. Each of the first six chapters features a new, failed attempt by Louie and Ralphie to be mean, and the final, seventh chapter resolves everything nicely. The humor springs from their foiled efforts and their reactions to their failures. Myers’ sprightly grayscale drawings capture action and characters and add humorous details, such as the Ratsos’ “unwelcome” mat.
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers. (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7636-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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