Playful storytelling and art blend for a paean to the power of determination.
A penguin who—seemingly—met a bad end in Avery’s Frank’s Red Hat (2025) plans a daring escape.
Brave enough to steal a walrus’ tusk, Neville’s a born risk taker who earns the admiration of his friends. Shockingly, he’s engulfed by a killer whale one day. Trapped inside the creature’s mouth, Neville meets Reg the seal. Though the pair seem doomed to the digestive tract, Neville realizes a very important fact: “We are not eaten yet.” Despite Reg’s discouraging words, Neville persists—he checks each tooth to see if any are loose, and when he finds himself unable to reach the whale’s blowhole, he builds a tower out of furniture. Both Neville and Reg have compelling personalities, developed over just a few pages, with cautious Reg serving as a deft foil to daring Neville. Avery’s dramatic illustrations use color to great effect, with the penguins’ stark black-and-white world standing in sharp contrast with the vibrant depictions of the whale’s mouth, suffused by deep magenta. There’s plenty to giggle over, too, from the slyly funny narration to visual gags galore (for instance, Neville turning the whale’s mouth into a cozy home complete with rocking chair, lamp, and rug). Neville’s and Reg’s large, expressive eyes telegraph their every thought. Fans of Avery’s earlier book will be delighted to see Neville back and more resolute than ever, his tenacity a model for times when it’s imperative to persist.
Playful storytelling and art blend for a paean to the power of determination. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 4, 2026
ISBN: 9781761602542
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Toad and Little Blue Truck get ready for a hayride.
After the titular vehicle is loaded with hay, Toad is nowhere to be found. “Beep! Beep! Beep! Where are you, Toad?” asks Little Blue Truck. All the barnyard animals look for him. Sheep searches the meadow. Goose and Duck check the pond. Others pitch in, too, but Toad seems to have disappeared…until Hen hears snoring coming from the pile of hay in the back of Little Blue Truck. Although the text’s scansion is imperfect in places (adults may want to pre-read to ensure a smooth read-aloud), the bouncy meter and rhyming text nevertheless capture the energy of the search and the farmyard community’s concern for Toad’s safety, making this a solid storytime choice. Eye-catching illustrations with rich, fully saturated colors balance the right level of detail while still highlighting the animal that is the focus of each verse. By introducing one farm animal at a time, Schertle also helps the youngest readers begin to identify barnyard animals by name and understand their unique farm homes. Traditional animal sounds are part of the text, and listeners will add them to their vocabulary. It all ends with the promised hayride, bringing the tale to a joyous ending.
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026
ISBN: 9780063436121
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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