by Rachel Quarry ; illustrated by Rachel Quarry ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2018
Simple and sweet.
Even though he can’t change colors like the rest of his family, a young chameleon learns that he has other innate gifts.
His brothers and sisters blend easily into the forest by changing colors, but Colin’s burnished red never changes. The other chameleons decide that it’s not safe to be near him, so he travels alone and friendless. While they hunt for insects and leaves to eat, Colin hides all day under a branch. The juiciest insects are across the road, but no chameleon dares make that crossing, because it isn’t safe—the tire prints and tiny bones make that clear. One day, Colin is leaning too far from his branch and falls—right into the middle of the road. A driver sees him right away and yells, “Stop!” and cars traveling in both directions do just that. Waving a leaf, Colin calls all the other chameleons to cross the road with him, and they parade across to a juicy reward. Now, that part of the road is known as the chameleon crossing, and Colin is a hero. Each two-page spread in Quarry’s gentle story is also an opportunity for little readers to find the chameleons. Her illustrations, which look like prints, employ multiple shades of green, brown, and yellow to great effect; bright Colin stands out!
Simple and sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-76036-047-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Starfish Bay
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
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by Eoin McLaughlin ; illustrated by Polly Dunbar ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2019
Watching unlikely friends finally be as “happy as two someones can be” feels like being enveloped in your very own hug.
What to do when you’re a prickly animal hankering for a hug? Why, find another misfit animal also searching for an embrace!
Sweet but “tricky to hug” little Hedgehog is down in the dumps. Wandering the forest, Hedgehog begs different animals for hugs, but each rejects them. Readers will giggle at their panicked excuses—an evasive squirrel must suddenly count its three measly acorns; a magpie begins a drawn-out song—but will also be indignant on poor hedgehog’s behalf. Hedgehog has the appealingly pink-cheeked softness typical of Dunbar’s art, and the gentle watercolors are nonthreatening, though she also captures the animals’ genuine concern about being poked. A wise owl counsels the dejected hedgehog that while the prickles may frighten some, “there’s someone for everyone.” That’s when Hedgehog spots a similarly lonely tortoise, rejected due to its “very hard” shell but perfectly matched for a spiky new friend. They race toward each other until the glorious meeting, marked with swoony peach swirls and overjoyed grins. At this point, readers flip the book to hear the same gloomy tale from the tortoise’s perspective until it again culminates in that joyous hug, a book turn that’s made a pleasure with thick creamy paper and solid binding.
Watching unlikely friends finally be as “happy as two someones can be” feels like being enveloped in your very own hug. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-571-34875-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
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by Lindsay Bonilla ; illustrated by Cinta Villalobos ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 2, 2018
Good bedtime reading.
Only polar bears are allowed on Polar Bear Island, until Kirby, a friendly, creative penguin, arrives on the scene.
On the verso of the first double-page spread, large white lettering proclaims against an azure sky: “Polar Bear Island was peaceful and predictable. Parker, the mayor, planned to keep it that way.” Below, Parker—paint can in left paw—can be seen facing his sign: “Welcome to Polar Bear Island. No Others Allowed.” On the recto, Kirby floats into view on an ice floe, with hat, scarf, and overstuffed suitcase. When Kirby arrives, Parker grudgingly allows her an overnight stay. However, she soon proves her worth to the other bears; she has invented Flipper Slippers, which keep extremities warm and reverse from skates to snowshoes. Now Kirby is allowed to stay and help the bears make their own Flipper Slippers. When her family shows up with more inventions, Parker feels compelled to give them a week. (Presumably, the penguins have made the 12,430-mile-trip from the South Pole to the North Pole, characterized merely as “a long journey.”) A minor crisis permanently changes Parker’s attitudes about exclusivity. The text is accessible and good fun to read aloud. The weakness of the ostensible theme of granting welcome to newcomers lies in the fact that all the newcomers are immediately, obviously useful to the bears. The cartoonlike, scratchboard-ish graphics are lighthearted and full of anthropomorphic touches.
Good bedtime reading. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2870-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
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