A sweetly satisfying reminder that there truly is no place like home.
The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
In the center of a “tired” town square, “on the edge of a vast and magnificent city,” stands a statue of a lone white wolf. Wolf is stuck in a rut, observing the daily routines of the residents but ignored by everyone except Pigeon, who poops on her daily. Yearning to live among the majestic statues in the city center, she boards a bus in search of a new perspective. After being rebuffed by the sculptures in the museums and realizing that the monument dedicated to battle might not be her thing, she aimlessly wanders the city, lonely and confused. Wolf sheepishly returns, sparking elation as the residents celebrate the return of their missing statue and making her feel right at home. Debut author/illustrator Wolf (no relation) has crafted a fantastical tale that balances the desire for new experiences with the need to be appreciated. Traveling through brightly colored bustling city scenes, Wolf endures a range of emotions, making her journey all the more relatable to young readers unsure of their place in life. Store signs and local landmarks imply an Italian setting; town residents are diverse in age and skin tone.
A sweetly satisfying reminder that there truly is no place like home. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781836300106
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scallywag Press
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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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
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