WOULD YOU STILL LOVE ME IF I WAS A WORM?

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WOULD YOU STILL LOVE ME IF I WAS A WORM?

Name: WOULD YOU STILL LOVE ME IF I WAS A WORM?
Author: Meghan Sullivan
ISBN: 9781664301016

by Meghan Sullivan ; illustrated by Ludi Copper ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 3, 2026

A reassuring charmer that’s funny and just the right amount of gross.

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One kid wants to know: Are there limits to a parent’s love?

A child with pale skin, stubby orange pigtails, and outsize pink glasses addresses a question to a pale-skinned parent: “Would you still love me… / …if I was a worm? / I’d live in the mud— / just look at me squirm!” Replies the parent: “Of course I’d still love you— / worm hugs are bliss. / I’d wipe off the mud / and then give you a kiss.” On it goes: The kid issues a challenge that tests the parent’s love (“If I was a troll,” “If I was a ghost,” etc.), and the parent responds with full-throated rhymed reassurance (“Yes! / If you were a ghost, / I’d still love you the most”). This hymn to unconditional love, which can’t help recalling Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd’s like-themed The Runaway Bunny, is made all the more affecting by Copper’s color-blasted illustrations: They present the child’s fantasized incarnation as one creature or another (dirt-smeared pink worm, moldy cheese, and so on) while retaining those adorable pigtails and wacky glasses. Despite the threat of a foray into scatology (“Would you still love me if / I was green goop? / A potty, a piggy, / or even some…”), this book’s foundational sweetness prevails.

A reassuring charmer that’s funny and just the right amount of gross. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2026

ISBN: 9781664301016

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tiger Tales

Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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Awards & Accolades

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24

Our Verdict

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New York Times Bestseller

PAPA DOESN'T DO ANYTHING!

by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 13, 2025

A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren.

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Our Verdict

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New York Times Bestseller

In talk-show host Fallon and illustrator Ordóñez’s latest picture-book collaboration, an elderly pooch waxes rhapsodic about a life well lived.

Observing Papa sitting in his chair watching TV all day, a young pup says, “I’m starting to think…you don’t do ANYTHING.” So Papa proceeds to list his accomplishments, both big and small, mundane and profound. Some are just a result of being older and physically bigger (being tall enough to reach a high shelf and strong enough to open jars); others include winning a race and performing in a band when he was younger. Eventually, the pup realizes that while Papa may have slowed down in his old age, he’s led a full life. The most satisfying thing about Papa’s life now? Watching his grandchild take center stage: “I can say lots of thoughts / but I choose to be quiet. / I’d rather you discover things and then try it.” Fallon’s straightforward text is sweetly upbeat, though it occasionally lacks flow, forcing incongruous situations together to fit the rhyme scheme (“I cook and I mow, / and I once flew a plane. // I play newspaper puzzles because it’s good for my brain”). Featuring uncluttered, colorful backgrounds, Ordóñez’s child-friendly digital art at times takes on sepia tones, evoking the sense of looking back at old photos or memories. Though the creators tread familiar ground, the love between Papa and his little one is palpable.

A tale of intergenerational bonding to be shared by grandparents and grandchildren. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: May 13, 2025

ISBN: 9781250393975

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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)