“Presto!” intones Will whenever he witnesses the “magic” of his family’s mailbox: letters appear and disappear when no one is looking. Sadly, the magic falls flat for Will—he never gets mail. Encouraged by his mother’s example, Will mails a missive to himself and receives it two days later. The experience proves underwhelming because, after all, the letter yields no surprises. Shortly thereafter, however, Will spies, on a box of his favorite cereal, a picture of a boy and girl mailing letters. Reading further, he discovers this is an advertising promotion: each child is sending away labels from three of these boxes in order to receive personalized cereal bowls in the mail. Eating lots more Magic Charms than usual and plying everyone he knows with it, Will soon empties the required three boxes, snips off the labels, and mails them away. The abracadabra is long in coming, but finally the bowl, emblazoned “Will the Great” arrives. Is Will going to fill it with cereal? Of course not. Now emboldened by his magic powers, Will declares that he's going to fill it with oats—for the horse he’s planning to send away for from yet another cereal company! Poydar’s (First Day, Hooray!, 1999, etc.) writing is not particularly felicitous here, but she does capture the allure of getting a letter. Collage bits of magazines, catalogues, and postcards add a little panache to the scenes of endlessly open-mouthed, round-eyed characters. The text does include some clearly laid-out information about how mail is handled and also some helpful pointers for children on how to address envelopes correctly. Good for introducing the concept of getting mail. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1525-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2000
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
Wild and wacky.
A picture book from the comedy duo known as Rhett & Link, creators of the online juggernaut Good Mythical Morning.
Lumo is obsessed with chicken fingers; Saffy, who is new to town and anxious about starting school, finds comfort in the only food she likes: buttered spaghetti. The night before the first day of school, a thunderstorm rages, and each kid makes a wish—“to have chicken fingers at school,” in Lumo’s case; Saffy wishes for “the first thing off the top of her head: buttered spaghetti.” File under “Be careful what you wish for.” Lumo’s and Saffy’s respective physical changes (chicken fingers for fingers, spaghetti for hair) make navigating school a challenge but bring them together in the cafeteria, where they enjoy some new foods—and their new friendship. The plotting could have been sharper: Why do the kids’ bodies suddenly return to normal? And couldn’t the authors have thought up a less old-hat story-ending punch line? Nevertheless, McLaughlin and Neal get by on their charm, and the plot sets up some funny visuals. Salcedo’s cartoony Photoshop art features well-chosen artifacts from a typical kid’s life and captures the mortification of not fitting in, which will be familiar even to readers who have never experienced breaded fingers or noodle hair. Lumo is brown-skinned and dark-haired; Saffy is pale-skinned with disheveled reddish-brown hair.
Wild and wacky. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 16, 2026
ISBN: 9780063474154
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperPop/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
