“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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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