A thoughtful morality tale wrapped up in colorful pictures and silly rhyming verse that is a joy to read aloud.
A selfish clam learns the hard way that a lack of kindness can have serious consequences in Mendelson’s picture book.
Seymour the clam lives a solitary life under the ocean. One day, a crowd gathers outside his home—fishermen have arrived, and the other sea creatures beg Seymour to shelter them so they can avoid the dreaded fishing nets. But the clam refuses; when he eventually does open his door, he discovers the fish are gone…and he is promptly caught up in a fishing net himself. They are all carted off to shore, where the sea creatures’ loud squabbling prompts the boat’s captain to sell them all at a discount to Morris and Murray, the owners of a Miami seafood store. The animals’ constant fighting scares away all the customers, and when a group comes in looking to buy fish to put in the city’s aquarium, Morris and Murray happily agree to sell them all. Seymour continues complaining, however, so it’s decided he’ll be left behind. The clam is eventually bought by a desperate chef who turns him into “sour” chowder while the rest of the fish enjoy their new lives in the aquarium. Mendelson’s text is written entirely in verse, with a rhyme scheme of AABCC that makes it particularly fun to read aloud—some rhymes prove downright impressive: “But people who live in our municipality / long to see fishes that have personality.” The story starts to sag a bit toward the end, with a few pages feeling like filler (particularly the scenes in which Morris and Murray debate whether to buy the fish and the aquarium representatives arrive). Still, the fishes’ grumbling and some well-placed slapstick comedy help carry the plot through to the end. Bulow’s colorful illustrations, filled with cartoonish anthropomorphic fish and bold colors, perfectly balance the narrative’s surprisingly dark ending.
A thoughtful morality tale wrapped up in colorful pictures and silly rhyming verse that is a joy to read aloud.Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9798891555235
Page Count: 50
Publisher: Austin Macauley
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
An absolute pleasure.
A small dog takes a huge leap.
True to her name, sled dog puppy Leap spends her days bounding happily through blankets of freshly fallen snow, bouncily biding her time until she, too, can suit up for a run with the team. Each dog brings a different, equally essential skill to the work of mushing, and as too-young Leap greets the pack when they return from their daily hike, she worries—what if she lacks a special talent of her own when it’s her time to race? But when the much-anticipated day arrives and Leap clips in for her rookie run, her feet tippity-tap excitedly, any trace of self-doubt eclipsed by her irrepressible enthusiasm. With their new addition in tow, the other dogs take off, buoyed as ever by a confidence borne from specialized expertise; they confront obstacles head-on, sailing easily along icy Northwoods terrain. That is until the team encounters a seemingly insurmountable hurdle, one that only their greenest member can clear. Dogsled racer Braverman’s sweet narrative builds a satisfying case for individuality as a community asset, celebrating both the value of teamwork and the discrete strengths that comprise it. Savvy readers will take pride in predicting Leap’s unique contribution, while canine lovers will delight in the revelation that the pups depicted are all real-life sled dogs working in northern Wisconsin. When’s illustrations are equal parts spellbinding and precious, deftly balancing compositional simplicity with masterful color work. The result is peerless.
An absolute pleasure. (author’s note) (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9780063238053
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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