A convincing look at the rewards of cooperating and collaborating.
A community comes together to rebuild after extensive storm damage.
Pouring rain, rising river waters, and fierce winds cause people and animals alike to seek makeshift shelter in a nearby barn. In the morning, “skies so blue” reveal extensive destruction. “Where to start? / So much to do!” Things get worse when tempers flare between even the closest neighbors: Accusations of “Not mine. That’s yours!” are met with “We quit! We’re done! / Slam all the doors!” Thankfully, rest and communication repair relationships and prove there’s “always, always / room to grow.” The challenges of “finding [and] hauling” give way to “laughing [and] learning” as more residents assist one another: “Kindness, healing, / hope fulfilled. / Friend and neighbor, / together we build!” Vaught and Murphy have gratifyingly reunited to repeat the success of 2020’s Together We Grow. Murphy’s meticulous illustrations again enhance Vaught’s simple, resonating rhymes. Every spread spotlights the attention and care afforded all manner of animals, from the usual barnyard cows, pigs, and chickens to turtles, raccoons, and even a curious mole. Whether feathered or furry, these creatures are charmingly anthropomorphized, conveying sadness, loyalty, caring, and joy. Murphy realistically depicts exhausted adults initially behaving badly (mirrored by their animals!)—to the clear detriment of their children. Her humans reflect a wide diversity in terms of skin tone, age, and physical ability. The endpapers cleverly capture the transformative power of rebuilding together.
A convincing look at the rewards of cooperating and collaborating. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9781665902830
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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