Girl power and sibling affection combine with the far north setting for a sweetly memorable tale.
A young Arctic ground squirrel enjoying the last few moments of sunshine risks being caught outside when winter falls.
Clad in a blue parka, siksik Ilua takes her time, watching the rest of her family scurry about gathering berries and Arctic cotton. The Long Sleep is “more than an hour away,” after all. Carrying her little sister in the hood of her parka, Ilua chatters companionably “about things that babies like to talk about,” dawdling all the while. But the hour passes more quickly than Ilua anticipates, and like clockwork, the snow begins to fall with the two sisters far from any of their den’s 30 entrances. Ilua asks a raven and then an Arctic hare for help, but the snow is already too thick. When a wolf appears, she tremulously asks him for help; thinking that Ilua’s whole family “would make a fine meal,” he digs away at the snow, uncovering an entrance—whereupon Ilua, thinking quickly, blinds him with the Arctic cotton she has gathered, saving herself and her sister. Hicks’ original tale has a pleasing predictability to its structure, and it’s enlivened by the genuinely warm relationship between the sisters. Her illustrations feature thick outlines, stylized, rounded figures, and bright, jewel colors for the Arctic sunset. The anthropomorphized siksiks are almost impossibly cute.
Girl power and sibling affection combine with the far north setting for a sweetly memorable tale. (glossary) (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-7722-7003-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
Sure to have little ones giggling.
Jacques is a hedgehog with a big secret: “I wear real, bona fide underwear.”
Our narrator received a mysterious package one day; an illustration shows a pair of underwear tied to a balloon with a note “from the Universe” floating down into Jacques’ burrow. Hedgehogs don’t wear underwear, however. Will Jacques be shunned? Jacques worries but comes to a decision: “I have to wear them. When I do I feel special.” Determined, Jacques, who’s been invited to a party, makes a dramatic entrance, with undies in hand. Jacques’ declaration (“I WEAR UNDERWEAR”) is met with remarks of dismay, before another hedgehog opens up about similar fears and shows off a pair of cowboy boots. More hedgehogs introduce themselves with their own confessions. The story ends with Jacques unveiling a painting of the underwear in a gallery filled with hedgehogs wearing all sorts of attire. Though the book is simple in plot, characters, and setting, it wins in its balance of bathroom humor, dramatic storytelling, and celebrations of individual expression. French words are peppered throughout, adding to the fun without detracting from the story for those unfamiliar with the language. The cartoonish illustrations brim with fun; Valdez relies heavily on geometric shapes (triangle noses for the hedgehogs; huge circles for their eyes). Details such as speech bubbles and recurring turtle and snake characters contribute to the outlandish humor.
Sure to have little ones giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781250814388
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end.
Something is preventing Owl from falling asleep.
Owl leans back against his white pillow and headboard. “Squeek!” says something underneath the bed. Owl’s never heard that sound before, so he fastens his pink bathrobe and answers the front door. Nobody. It must be the wind; back to bed. Bidding himself goodnight, he climbs into bed—and hears the noise again. Time after time, he pops out of bed seeking the squeaker. Is it in the cupboard? He empties the shelves. Under the floor? He pulls up his floorboards. As Owl’s actions ratchet up—he destroys the roof and smashes the walls, all in search of the squeak—so does his anxiety. Not until he hunkers down in bed under the night sky (his bed is now outdoors, because the house’s roof and walls are gone), frantically clutching his pillow, does he see what readers have seen all along: a small, gray mouse. In simple illustrations with black outlines, textured coloring, and foreshortened perspective, Pizzoli plays mischievously with mouse placement. Sometimes the mouse is behind Owl or just out of his sightline; other times, the mouse is on a solid, orange-colored page across the spread from Owl, which removes him from Owl’s scene in a rather postmodern manner. Is the mouse toying with Owl? Who knows?
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-1275-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
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