Good-hearted but message-heavy.
Piphus, Sesame Street’s first Black and female full-time puppeteer, draws from personal experience to tell the story of a child who confronts her fears of public speaking.
May, a young girl who loves playing with puppets, feels anxious about starting her new school: “Without her puppets, May was afraid of using her voice in new places, with new faces.” Sure enough, she clams up at school. Worrisomely, her teacher gives the students an assignment that will force May to speak up: As May explains to one of her puppets, “We have to tell the whole class what our favorite animal is, and why it’s our favorite.” The assignment ultimately enables May to conquer her fear by employing her puppetry talents. The narrative offers a good message about finding strength within oneself, but the text is stilted and clichéd (“‘Wow!’ May’s classmates gasped in wonder”; “Nervous butterflies fluttered in May’s stomach”). There’s less story here than internal struggle, which is captured in Mata’s emotionally attuned art, rendered in theatrical colors. The book’s lesson is hammered home in May’s closing statement, which sounds as though it’s coming from the mouth of not a child or a puppet, but an adult: “When you are brave, when you use your imagination and practice—you can bring any dream to life!” Like Piphus, May is Black; other characters are diverse.
Good-hearted but message-heavy. (author’s note, puppet craft) (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9780593857595
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
An instructive tale about big feelings, lightened up by a furious kid’s theatrics.
An angry child attempts to calm down.
A kid with paper-white skin, clad in a blue dress and striped tights, makes an absurd request: “Can we get a pet penguin, name it Marshmallow, and feed it carrots?” Mom, off-stage, says simply, “Not today,” and the tot transforms into a rather odd creature: a spicy nugget! The nugget is imperfectly ovoid in form, with red rosy cheeks, rage-filled dot-eyes, and a spiraling black-hole mouth. The sight gag works beautifully: When one feels truly angry, all poise disappears, leaving only a flailing ball of rage. Our protagonist hurls a teddy bear, unsuccessfully tries out a list of calming methods, and finally retreats to bed, where “I can feel my breathing; I know that I am safe.” The youngster reverts back to human form, and Mom arrives with kind words: “You are not your big feelings. You are not your angry thoughts.” The takeaway is unmistakable, especially at the story’s conclusion: It’s OK to get mad and important to practice coping strategies. The young narrator expresses emotion with fabulous vigor, though the story’s lilting rhyme scheme occasionally distracts from these outbursts with cuteness. Nonetheless, this increasingly enraged nugget-child is irresistible; anyone who’s grappled with overwhelming emotions will relate—in a word, everyone.
An instructive tale about big feelings, lightened up by a furious kid’s theatrics. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9798217042142
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
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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