A lovingly told exploration of compromise that leads to a new outlook on life.
Stepping outside of one’s routine brings new experiences.
An unnamed, pink-skinned human, clad in a plaid shirt and green trucker hat, and a black-and-white cat go for their usual walk. When the cat begins romping with another feline, the human decides it’s time to go. “Why are you always in charge?” asks the chagrined cat, and the human devolves into an existential crisis before coming to a decision: The next walk will be led by the cat. The following day, the human experiences life through the cat’s eyes as she chases butterflies and squirrels into a densely wooded area. The human, finding it difficult to see amid the brambles, falls off a small cliff: “I don’t want to be here anymore.” As the cat comforts her owner, the human marvels at the night sky, filled with luminous yellow stars, shown in a gatefold spread, and realizes that it’s OK to take the “usual route” but also necessary to “get lost” sometimes. Lundberg sets her story in a surreal setting that’s grounded in reality (the apartment complex echoes an M.C. Escher painting in one particularly mournful spread), and many human characters have elongated limbs. The stunning, saturated watercolor and gouache illustrations, in tandem with the thought-provoking text, translated from Swedish, chart the emotional journey of both human and cat as they discover that changing things up can result in fresh perspectives.
A lovingly told exploration of compromise that leads to a new outlook on life. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9780802856333
Page Count: 66
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
A charming tale of an athlete who may not steal any bases but who will certainly steal readers’ hearts.
Ohtani, pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, teams up with Blank and Liem to tell the story of how his dog, Decoy, threw out a ceremonial first pitch.
It’s a big day! Decoy leaps “off the bed. Then back onto the bed. Then off the bed.” The enthusiastic pup heads outside to practice with his lucky baseball but is quickly distracted by squirrels (“we’ll play later!”), airplanes (“flyin’ high!”), and flowers (“smell ya soon!”). Dog and pitcher then head to the ballpark. In the locker room, Decoy high-paws Shohei’s teammates. It’s nearly time! But as Shohei prepares to warm up, Decoy realizes that he’s forgotten something important: his lucky ball. Without it, there will be “no championships, no parades, and no hot dogs!” Back home he goes, returning just in time. With Shohei at the plate, Decoy runs from the mound to his owner, rolling the ball into Shohei’s mitt for a “Striiiiike!” Related from a dog’s point of view, Ohtani and Blank’s energetic text lends the tale a sense of urgency and suspense. Liem’s illustrations capture the excitement of the first day of baseball season and the joys of locker room camaraderie, as well as Shohei and Decoy’s mutual affection—even when the ball is drenched in slobber, Shohei’s love for his pet shines through, and clearly, Decoy is focused when it matters.
A charming tale of an athlete who may not steal any bases but who will certainly steal readers’ hearts. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9780063460775
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
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
BOOK REVIEW
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