A warmhearted look at a chilling topic.
When a little polar bear’s ice floe melts, he must find his way home.
A warming ecosystem causes the bear’s ice floe to break off and float away while he naps. When he wakes, he is all alone in the vast sea. His floe is getting smaller and smaller. Luckily, he lands in what he knows to be “the human place.” Big ships crowd the harbor, and everyone bustles to and fro. No one notices the tiny cub. He plods along, bewildered, on a teeming street, blending into the swarm. But then, a small, tan-skinned human sees him. She’s eating an ice cream cone and offers him some. This cold treat is delicious! Instinctively, the tot knows the cub needs help getting home. More and more kids come, each bringing ice cream—all the ice cream in the world, in fact! They pile it together, creating a tasty iceberg so the bear can float back to his mother. This Dutch import is a gentle introduction to global warming. A vague note in the beginning offers some context (“It will take more than all the ice cream in the world to keep the icebergs from melting”), though readers are mostly left on their own to fill in the gaps. But a glimmer of optimism shines as children are reminded that they can unite to change the world. The youngsters are racially diverse.
A warmhearted look at a chilling topic. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9781605379920
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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