A winsome be-careful-what-you-wish-for tale.
A story about what doesn’t happen on a sick day.
Herbie, who presents East Asian and rocks a black pudding-bowl haircut, has the sniffles, as well as a secret: When his parents tell him he’s staying home, he’s “really excited. A whole day off school! ALL TO HIMSELF!!” There’s loads to do at his house: Herbie builds a couch-cushion fort, works on his yo-yo tricks, watches cartoons, and more…and is finished with everything on his sick day to-do list by lunchtime. Herbie’s idleness means that he has brain space to think about school: “What if something really good happened there today? Like an EXTRA playtime? Or a DOG loose in the CORRIDORS?” Because the plot is centered on a child’s inactivity, there’s an extra onus on the art to add interest, and the illustrators are up for the task: They get the story out of Herbie’s house by depicting the fruits of the child’s active imagination. “What if pirates invaded” and “the school needed everyone to HELP PROTECT its SECRET TREASURE CHEST?” The art, rendered in watercolor, gouache, pen and ink, and Procreate, has a daintily labored-over look; its elegance is reinforced by hand-lettered text. Readers shouldn’t expect a lesson on the folly of missing school: The story’s ending, which hinges on a sight gag, makes clear that this book is all in good fun.
A winsome be-careful-what-you-wish-for tale. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798217039999
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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