A gentle, silly picture book about balancing fun and responsibility.
Bruce the bear is not fun.
He doesn’t like biking fast or making sculptures out of yogurt or dismounting from branches like an Olympic gymnast. And he definitely doesn’t like fun visits from friends and family. Bruce’s family loves Bruce, but they wish he were just a little more fun—that is, until they meet Bruce’s cousin Kevin, who looks just like Bruce (except for Bruce’s trademark scowl) but acts nothing like him. Bruce doesn’t know about Kevin’s visit, so he isn’t home when Kevin arrives. When Kevin shows up and introduces himself to Bruce’s immediate family—which consists of a motley crew of earnest mice and forever-hungry geese—he stages a candy fight, orders 26 pizzas, and turns the house into an indoor pool. When a minibus full of Kevin’s friends pulls up in front of the house, the fun goes a little too far. The mice and geese begin to miss their beloved, unfun bear—and to appreciate the need to be unfun, at least some of the time. The story’s textured, cartoon illustrations employ panels, speech bubbles, and an endearingly drawn cast of woodland characters to build humor into unexpected moments and to give the plot momentum. The dialogue is cheeky and conversational, deftly tucking clever jokes for adults between lines that clearly appeal to children. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-24-inch double-page spreads viewed at 41.7% of actual size.)
A gentle, silly picture book about balancing fun and responsibility. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-368-02856-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
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More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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BOOK REVIEW
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