A winsome underdog story, starring a protagonist certain to worm his way into readers’ hearts.
An ambitious invertebrate uses his unique talents to prove himself at his new job.
Reclining in an open book, Worm lets out a sigh—he is bored. Having served as the head librarian for a long time, Worm has read everything in the library, and he is ready for an exciting new career. After trying a handful of jobs that end up being too dangerous for a worm, he comes across a posting for a security guard at the convention center, where inventions have been going missing. The human manager who interviews him is skeptical: “You’re three inches long,” he points out. “Also, you’re a worm.” But Worm makes his case (he’s capable of disguising himself as a hair tie or a pretzel, he can transform “kitchen scraps into valuable fertilizer,” and he’s “extremely stretchy”). Worm is hired! And when he encounters the thief, he’s underestimated yet again, but his creative abilities (and stretchiness) turn out to be useful. Fergus’ tongue-in-cheek dialogue and narration are an ideal match for Hammond’s exaggerated, energetic cartoon artwork; the illustrator wrings maximum humor and pathos from big-eyed, bushy-browed Worm as he persists in the face of failure (time spent in the sun during his turn as a lifeguard leaves him a dried-out mess) and ultimately triumphs. The manager and the thief are pale-skinned; other human characters vary in skin tone.
A winsome underdog story, starring a protagonist certain to worm his way into readers’ hearts. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781525313165
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
Sure to have little ones giggling.
Jacques is a hedgehog with a big secret: “I wear real, bona fide underwear.”
Our narrator received a mysterious package one day; an illustration shows a pair of underwear tied to a balloon with a note “from the Universe” floating down into Jacques’ burrow. Hedgehogs don’t wear underwear, however. Will Jacques be shunned? Jacques worries but comes to a decision: “I have to wear them. When I do I feel special.” Determined, Jacques, who’s been invited to a party, makes a dramatic entrance, with undies in hand. Jacques’ declaration (“I WEAR UNDERWEAR”) is met with remarks of dismay, before another hedgehog opens up about similar fears and shows off a pair of cowboy boots. More hedgehogs introduce themselves with their own confessions. The story ends with Jacques unveiling a painting of the underwear in a gallery filled with hedgehogs wearing all sorts of attire. Though the book is simple in plot, characters, and setting, it wins in its balance of bathroom humor, dramatic storytelling, and celebrations of individual expression. French words are peppered throughout, adding to the fun without detracting from the story for those unfamiliar with the language. The cartoonish illustrations brim with fun; Valdez relies heavily on geometric shapes (triangle noses for the hedgehogs; huge circles for their eyes). Details such as speech bubbles and recurring turtle and snake characters contribute to the outlandish humor.
Sure to have little ones giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781250814388
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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