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TERRY'S MANY HATS

Name: TERRY'S MANY HATS
Author: Terry Crews
ISBN: 9780316499996

by Terry Crews with Laura Baker ; illustrated by Tanisha Cherislin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 24, 2026

Crews wore his bestselling author hat when he penned this charmer.

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Actor and former NFL player Crews’ debut picture book tells the story of “a boy with BIG dreams…and a whole lot of hats.”

Terry scores big on the football field, but he’s also a gifted painter, singer, and more—conveyed through a montage of images that see him donning different chapeaux, from an artist’s beret to a chef’s hat. The week before the big game, however, Coach asks everyone to focus their energies on the gridiron, so Terry skips out on a new art project and talent show rehearsals and instead grabs his helmet to go full Football Terry. Though he leads his team to victory, he feels pigeonholed by others’ expectations (“Everyone wants me to be Football Terry or Artist Terry or Performer Terry”). Happily, his mother’s words—“Some days or weeks you may wear one hat more often, but that doesn’t mean the others are gone”—encourage the young boy to make time for his many passions. A feather in the cap of the multitalented Crews, this sensitively written book delivers an empowering message about staying true to oneself, conveyed at a time when children are too often scheduled up to their eyeballs. His use of caps as a metaphor makes a somewhat sophisticated concept feel concrete to a young audience. Cherislin’s soft-focus illustrations, reminiscent of Vanessa Brantley-Newton’s artwork, depict a determined Black child whose zest for life is palpable.

Crews wore his bestselling author hat when he penned this charmer. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026

ISBN: 9780316499996

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

- BOOK REVIEW
TERRY'S CREW
by Terry Crews ; illustrated by Cory Thomas

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)