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TWINKLE BONES

Name: TWINKLE BONES
Author: Nicholas Roberts

by Nicholas Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 28, 2017

A short, simple fairy tale, enlivened by a touch of eccentricity that isn’t reflected in its images.

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In Roberts’ brief debut picture book, a boy in a colorless kingdom discovers music and laughter.

An inquisitive child named Twinkle Bones lives in the “dreary, dark, and sad” Bone Head Kingdom in the sky, where citizens are made of bone and never smile, and where “fun had not yet been invented.” He doesn’t know what the kingdom is missing, but he’s determined to find out and fix it. The answer comes easily in this conflict-free tale, crafted with descriptive word repetition for readers progressing to chapter books. Twinkle Bones wanders into a “dark, dreary, and gray forest,” where he finds a hollow stick and is surprised by the sound it makes when he blows in it. With it, he soon transforms the kingdom into a shining place of music, happiness, and laughter. The dancing citizens’ “clicking, clattering” bones spark and glitter, lighting up the sky with what we on Earth mistakenly assume to be twinkling stars. The eccentric idea of dancing bone people, although a tad macabre, gives this slight narrative a needed creative spark. This imaginative touch, however, doesn’t extend to the merely serviceable full-page illustrations, which depict humanlike characters with white skin and slightly zombielike faces.

A short, simple fairy tale, enlivened by a touch of eccentricity that isn’t reflected in its images.

Pub Date: June 28, 2017

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 22

Publisher: LifeRichPublishing

Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2017

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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BETTER THAN A TOUCHDOWN

by Jalen Hurts ; illustrated by Nneka Myers ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2026

Earnest and well meaning but not quite a touchdown.

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In Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Hurts’ motivational picture book, a youngster rebounds from disappointment.

As Jalen heads off on his first day of school, he daydreams about joining the football team, but his friend Trey soon breaks the bad news. The garden club needed more space for vegetables, so the football field was used for planting. There will be no football this year. Jalen is despondent, but his teachers Mrs. Lee and Mr. Barry and bodega owner Mr. Muhammad offer guidance that spurs him and his friends into positive action. They work to flip a nearby empty lot into a football field, with Jalen echoing his mentors’ adages. Once the field is complete, Jalen feels a swell of pride in his and his friends’ work. While the idea of kids working together to effect change is a laudable one, the bland, wordy storytelling won’t inspire young people or hold their attention. Tired, cliched inspirational comments peppered throughout often slow down the narrative, and many adult readers will find the premise—a school dropping a high-interest sports program in favor of a community garden—wildly unrealistic. Though the illustrations are colorful, with a Disney Junior charm, strange stylistic choices, such as signs with odd combinations of scribbles instead of letters, give them an unpolished look. Like Hurts, Jalen is Black; his community is diverse.

Earnest and well meaning but not quite a touchdown. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 10, 2026

ISBN: 9798217040308

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Flamingo Books

Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

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HOW TO CATCH THE EASTER BUNNY

From the How To Catch… series

by Adam Wallace ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2017

This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.

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The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.

The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.

This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)