A dreamy and layered work that honors children’s complex emotional landscape.
A struggling young immigrant finds peace through art.
Afsaneh (called Afsi), a brown-skinned youngster with curly hair, was born in a land “far, far away.” Though Afsi’s country of origin is never specified, Afsaneh means “fairy tale” in Persian. Life here is anything but a fairy tale, however—Afsi feels trapped by unfamiliar English words, and learning a new language is like crossing an invisible river “where there is no beginning and no end.” When the teacher calls Afsi’s name in class, Afsi doesn’t understand and feels shame and rage, pictured in explosive reds. But then a classmate offers colored pencils and paper, and Afsi sees that everyone else is drawing. Afsi calms down while creating a family portrait, and the invisible river hums tranquilly. The protagonist’s intense emotional experiences are given full expression in vivid, lyrical language and metaphor, paired with Balouch’s bright, childlike illustrations that resemble cut-paper collage. A small, expressive dragonlike creature accompanies Afsi, reflecting the youngster’s emotions—breathing fire when Afsi screams in anger and curling up by Afsi’s side as the child draws. Readers unfamiliar with the challenges of learning a language will be enlightened, while those who have been in Afsi’s shoes will feel seen. All will find plenty to ponder and discuss on every spread.
A dreamy and layered work that honors children’s complex emotional landscape. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9781636551449
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Red Comet Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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: yesterday
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
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
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