Expressive, gentle verses for young fans of fairy tales.
A children’s picture book of poems about fairies and other magical beings.
Debut children’s author Fraser winningly introduces young readers to flitting fairies, elves, leprechauns, a cartoon-loving goblin, a dragon, a unicorn named Shakespeare, and more. These magical beings exist, for the most part, in a world of woods, wildflowers, animals, and insects reminiscent of Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies books. Watercolorist Vasileva’s delicate illustrations are variously sized and positioned around the poems, and fairy and human characters are pictured as Black, brown, and White. Fraser’s verses, written primarily as simple couplets and quatrains, beg to be read aloud (“I love to watch the faeries fly above the pine and yew. / I love to watch them Highland fling above midsummer’s dew”). The poetry paints evocative images; for example, a child imagines what it would be like to ride on a butterfly and play “among the cowslip and bluebells” (“To Be a Faery Child”). The shortest entry, “The Goblin,” tells an amusing story in 10 lines; funny-bone humor also infuses “Little Bubbles,” about a fire-breathing baby dragon who lives with a boy named Bobby-Joe, drives a go-kart, cooks burgers, and becomes overly excited playing ball, accidentally singeing the boy’s hair.
Expressive, gentle verses for young fans of fairy tales.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-03-911965-9
Page Count: 60
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A successful call for creating and imagining, even if the story itself falls short.
In the dystopian, totalitarian world of 2099, 14-year-old Tessa and her family are desperate to solve the mystery of her twin brother Theo’s disappearance.
Tessa is growing up in a time when playgrounds are historical relics, surveillance cameras are everywhere, music is outlawed, and owning books is illegal. Under the absolute rule of Zokiris, the decadeslong leader of her territory, people are heavily controlled. When Theo vanishes under mysterious circumstances and his name is erased from the Territory Statistics list, Tessa’s 135-year-old neighbor, Miriam, gives the family contraband books that become central to figuring out Theo’s whereabouts. Most books have long since been seized and stored away in Building 903; Tessa is intrigued by their presence in her home, while her mother is terrified. Lowry, the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Giver (1993), shines in her creation of uncomfortably believable dystopian societies. Tessa’s painfully limited world is fully imagined, with its own history, laws, and norms. Her relationship with her brother reads as realistic and tender and is crucial to the mystery. Miriam is the most strongly developed character: wise and independent, unafraid and hopeful. While the climb to the book’s climax is captivating, the hurried resolution is disappointing. The powerful messaging around the importance of literature and imagination certainly resonates, however. The main characters present white.
A successful call for creating and imagining, even if the story itself falls short. (Dystopian. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780063515109
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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