A hope-filled scenario, although it’s heavily stylized in delivery.
A firefly guides a weary soldier back to his home and son.
The war’s over, and the troops are coming home—but one waiting boy longs to see a shooting star so that he might wish his father safe. What he gets is a tiny lightning bug who is mocked by the others because she cannot fly. But after she falls into his hand and hears his wish, she intrepidly sets out to grant it. Her long, hopping search over land and sea is successful at last, and after leading the soldier back to his son’s arms, Firefly is rewarded with the discovery that, as “love beat in her wings” and she “lit up the sky with happiness,” now she can fly. The story’s sentimental cast is echoed in the illustrations, which are swathed in deep but diaphanous blues. They depict soldiers traveling beneath starry skies in folded paper boats or airplanes and feature airy, indistinct figures that seem wrought from silvery moonlight. Despite tightly furled antennae, Firefly looks more human than the boy and his father, at least until the two assume a little solidity (and can be seen to be white) in their climactic clinch. As books that depict the experiences of children separated from family by deployment go, this is pretty attenuated; Jill Biden and Raúl Colón’s Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops (2012) is both more direct and filled with useful backmatter, while James Christopher Carroll’s Papa’s Backpack (2015), though it takes a similarly metaphorical approach, has a child-friendly vigor this book lacks.
A hope-filled scenario, although it’s heavily stylized in delivery. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-944822-80-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Familius
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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