A visually rich and respectful retelling that breathes new life into a timeless tale.
A resourceful trio of sisters confronts a cunning tiger in this inventive retelling of the Korean folktale “The Three Little Girls.”
A mother’s simple warning sets the stage for a tense showdown between clever children and a menacing predator. Before leaving for the village, Eomma gives each of her three daughters a gift and tells them to watch over one another. When a hungry tiger shows up at the door, the girls must outmaneuver the interloper, with help from the Sky God, who lowers a rope from the heavens; the creature attempts to climb it, to its detriment. With reverence and a modern touch, Miller reimagines a centuries-old tale. Loaded with detail and brimming with charm, her meticulously constructed cut-paper images are the book’s standout feature. Watercolor depictions of the characters are positioned among tiny hand-crafted sets created from clay, paper, wood, wire, and moss and then photographed. The orange tiger blazes across one double-page spread, while the rope glows against a dusky sky. In her backmatter, Miller notes that she drew influence from Korean folk arts and crafts and discusses honoring the source material while making carefully thought-out changes (for instance, giving her female cast more agency and character development).
A visually rich and respectful retelling that breathes new life into a timeless tale. (bibliography) (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9780823459407
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Charming.
An assortment of unusual characters form friendships and help each other become their best selves.
Mr. and Mrs. Tupper, who live at Number 3 Ramshorn Drive, are antiquarians. Their daughter, Jillian, loves and cares for a plant named Ivy, who has “three speckles on each leaf and three letters in her name.” Toasty, the grumpy goldfish, lives in an octagonal tank and wishes he were Jillian’s favorite; when Arthur the spider arrives inside an antique desk, he brings wisdom and insight. Ollie the violet plant, Louise the bee, and Sunny the canary each arrive with their own quirks and problems to solve. Each character has a distinct personality and perspective; sometimes they clash, but more often they learn to empathize, see each other’s points of view, and work to help one another. They also help the Tupper family with bills and a burglar. The Fan brothers’ soft-edged, old-fashioned, black-and-white illustrations depict Toasty and Arthur with tiny hats; Ivy and Ollie have facial expressions on their plant pots. The Tuppers have paper-white skin and dark hair. The story comes together like a recipe: Simple ingredients combine, transform, and rise into something wonderful. In its matter-of-fact wisdom, rich vocabulary (often defined within the text), hint of magic, and empathetic nonhuman characters who solve problems in creative ways, this delightful work is reminiscent of Ferris by Kate DiCamillo, Our Friend Hedgehog by Lauren Castillo, and Ivy Lost and Found by Cynthia Lord and Stephanie Graegin.
Charming. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781665942485
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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