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NIMBUS PLAYS ALONE

Name: NIMBUS PLAYS ALONE
Author: Saki Tanaka
ISBN: 9781250909602

by Saki Tanaka ; illustrated by Saki Tanaka ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 25, 2025

A congenial introduction to clouds and self-care.

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A puffy cloud navigates the emotional landscape of friendship.

Nimbus, a pinkish-yellow, personified cloud with facial features, hair draped across one eye, and arms and hands, enjoys solitary play: drawing with lightning bolts, playing “peekaboo with the sun,” and gleefully showering raindrops onto the Earth. When the extroverted Cumulus wants to play a guessing game, Nimbus becomes overwhelmed and flees. That approach-and-retreat pattern repeats with two other clouds whose overtures of friendship are initially unwelcome; Cirrus mistakes Nimbus’ bolt for a tail, and Stratus is eager to play hide-and-seek. Relying on watercolor, colored pencil, crayon, and tissue paper, Tanaka has created softly textured, expressive scenes in keeping with the subject and conveying each character’s emotional state. The dialogue mirrors each cloud’s personality; the boisterous Cumulus speaks in all caps, while the sweeping Cirrus uses “looooooong,” drawn-out words. Nimbus eventually starts seeing things from different perspectives, noticing what their new acquaintances would appreciate. (Most of the clouds use they/them pronouns.) Retracing their steps, Nimbus invites each cloud to play after explaining their needs: “Want to quietly guess what this puddle looks like?” While several aspects of the story will have general appeal—such as finding animals in cloud formations—introverted or neurodivergent readers will especially appreciate Nimbus’ transformation, their reflective moments, and the language they use to express their needs.

A congenial introduction to clouds and self-care. (cloud chart) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025

ISBN: 9781250909602

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
BETWEEN WORDS
by Saki Tanaka ; illustrated by Saki Tanaka

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THE PUMPKIN THIEF

From the Leaf Thief series

by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2026

More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.

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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

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SUN THIEF
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SNOW THIEF
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BISON AND THE BUTTERFLY
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nancy Leschnikoff

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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)