A simple but engaging and charming work.
A collection of animal stories for beginning readers.
Marasciulo’s collection of five illustrated stories is designed for very beginning readers, with a comic book–like illustration style that straddles the gap between picture book and graphic novel. The opening story, “This Is Pat,” introduces readers to the book’s sole human character, a White man with long hair who wears torn blue pants and a matching vest. Pat has an affinity for animals, who arrange themselves in a stack on his head over the course of the story. In “Pat Had a Ship,” an unfortunate sailing adventure gives Pat an opportunity to connect with more animals, this time on a floating log. In “Bud,” about a dog who is drawn to mud, Pat tries to keep his pal clean. “Zig and Zag” follows a pair of bugs Pat tries to keep in a box. Pat is absent from the book’s final story, “The Tunnel,” in which a group of bugs run away from a tick only to find that he isn’t as scary as they had believed. The book, which rarely has more than a dozen words to a page, uses simple syntax and vocabulary (“Then Frog got on the log”), keeping the text within reach of the earliest of readers. This occasionally leads to awkward verb use (“Bud did hop in the mud”), but it never interferes with comprehension, and each story is a fully realized narrative despite its brevity and limited word choice. Changochamango’s colorful cartoonish illustrations—sometimes a single frame to a page, occasionally three or more—do an excellent job of capturing the playful essence of Pat and his companions and clearly depict the actions described in the text, another useful tool for readers who need help deciphering the words. Readers who have exhausted the Elephant and Piggie oeuvre may find the book an enjoyable alternative, though the extremely simple text may limit the rereading potential.
A simple but engaging and charming work.Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 9798218084943
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Bowker Identifier Services
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
