A picture-perfect tale of self-love and acceptance.
On the eve of picture day, a young Black boy mulls a big decision.
While all the other students have big plans for their hairdos, Jordan isn’t so sure about his own look. He adores his big, soft, cloudlike hair, which “sits on top of [his] head like a crown,” but Grandma, Daddy, and Mama all agree that it might be time for a change. Jordan is reluctant, but Mama is warmly encouraging as the two head to her barbershop, where they meet an assortment of people who vary in gender, complexion, and hairstyle. “I even see my friends from school,” Jordan observes. He contemplates the options (a high top? A cool design shaved into his hair?), but, inspired by seeing the barber giving Mama the perfect cut, Jordan realizes what he wants. With a whisper to the barber, who has a crisply parted flattop, Jordan gets the style of his dreams; Miller builds anticipatory excitement over the next few pages as she eventually reveals Jordan’s look. Now sporting a bow tie, a well-coiffed Afro, and a big grin, Jordan is at last ready for his close-up, alongside a class full of kids with lovely, widely varying ’dos of their own. Illustrations rendered in watercolor and colored pencil with thick black ink outlines on textured paper depict a bright, inviting world where change initially seems daunting but becomes manageable, even rewarding, with the support of friends and family.
A picture-perfect tale of self-love and acceptance. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2025
ISBN: 9780316592284
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
Wonderful, indeed
A love song to baby with delightful illustrations to boot.
Sweet but not saccharine and singsong but not forced, Martin’s text is one that will invite rereadings as it affirms parental wishes for children while admirably keeping child readers at its heart. The lines that read “This is the first time / There’s ever been you, / So I wonder what wonderful things / You will do” capture the essence of the picture book and are accompanied by a diverse group of babies and toddlers clad in downright adorable outfits. Other spreads include older kids, too, and pictures expand on the open text to visually interpret the myriad possibilities and hopes for the depicted children. For example, a spread reading “Will you learn how to fly / To find the best view?” shows a bespectacled, school-aged girl on a swing soaring through an empty white background. This is just one spread in which Martin’s fearless embrace of the white of the page serves her well. Throughout the book, she maintains a keen balance of layout choices, and surprising details—zebras on the wallpaper behind a father cradling his child, a rock-’n’-roll band of mice paralleling the children’s own band called “The Missing Teeth”—add visual interest and gentle humor. An ideal title for the baby-shower gift bag and for any nursery bookshelf or lap-sit storytime.
Wonderful, indeed . (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37671-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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