An early comic drills home the lesson that you never know how much you need someone until you find a friend.
Two wild critters navigate seasons along with the ups and downs of an unexpected friendship.
Tiny Fox lives in a valley with just an apple tree for companionship, and, “like most small animals, he went about his day believing he was happy.” All that changes when Great Boar arrives and plops down beneath the tree. Perturbed, Tiny Fox now has to share everything. When he leaves for a short time and returns, however, he discovers Great Boar is gone and a newfound loneliness has settled in his place. Happily, the two are reunited in the first story in this collection (“Here”), and as the seasons change (“Together” takes place during fall and winter, snowy weather continues in “Apart,” and “There” takes the pals into spring), the two learn to trust one another and, when called upon to do so, trust themselves as well. Watercolors capable of evoking not simply the splendor of a new dawn, but also this little book’s emotional pitch are wielded with surgical skill. The smallest dab of a line beneath an eye can indicate remorse or, more often, worry. This storyline provides an elegant bridge between picture books and graphic novels; for fans of similarly early, gentle comics like Fox and Rabbit by Beth Ferry (2020) and Bug Boys by Laura Knetzger (2020).
An early comic drills home the lesson that you never know how much you need someone until you find a friend. (Graphic early reader. 6-9)Pub Date: April 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-63715-020-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Oni Press
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A lovingly authentic debut that shines.
Young Mindy takes an entrepreneurial approach to a new school and a new life.
Moving from California to Florida is tough. On top of that, Korean American Mindy and her father are still grieving the recent loss of her mom from a long illness. The first day at her new school is discouraging, as she is teased for her lunch of kimchi, seaweed, eggs, and rice. The next day a White classmate named Sally tries the seaweed and effectively flips public opinion, making Mindy’s lunch very popular. Encouraged by Sally’s enthusiasm, Mindy starts trading her seaweed, then opts to sell it to raise money for a puppy (a long-held dream of hers) that she hopes will alleviate her father’s sadness. The evenly paced plot thickens when a disgruntled classmate, a White boy named Brandon, reports Mindy’s forbidden business to a teacher, causing Sally, Mindy, and Brandon to go to the principal’s office. Just on the verge of settling in, Mindy now must untangle this mess. Lee ambitiously takes on a number of issues with a new school, microaggressions, friendships, and grief, and she artfully manages to balance it all. Mindy’s accessible, genuine-sounding voice is sincere without diminishing the gravity of heavy issues. Lee also knows when to insert scenes of family love that prevent Mindy’s dad from being defined solely by his grief. Ho contributes friendly-looking black-and-white illustrations every few pages.
A lovingly authentic debut that shines. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4009-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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