Even the endpapers are in on the fun.
Will this series of mistaken identities have a happy ending?
“I wish I had another cat to hang out with,” says an orange tabby. Then she sees what she thinks might be the crook of a cat’s tail outside the window. When she goes to investigate, she finds an elf hoping for rain so he can test his new umbrella (the crook the cat saw). The elf thinks he’s found his rainstorm, but it’s the copious tears of a bear who’s sad he’s lost his boot. The bear thinks he sees his boot off in the distance, but that turns out to be the nose of a dog looking for a bone. The group grows with each case of mistaken identity, until, with a bird looking for a worm, they all find a boy filling his pool and hoping for a party of friends. When a group of kids passes him by without a glance, the cat asks the boy if the ragtag bunch of questers could stay and have a party. Much splashing fun ensues. Hamilton’s easy-reading picture book, told all in apparently hand-lettered dialogue bubbles, is a nice twist on the cumulative tale. Listeners and young readers alike will enjoy trying to guess what each item is before it’s revealed. The author’s scratchy watercolor-and-ink cartoon illustrations are, of course, a perfect match.
Even the endpapers are in on the fun. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3384-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
A funny, wrenching affirmation of a parent’s unconditional love.
A toddler’s recalcitrance inspires a parent’s book-length retort.
The smallest thing—having to put on shoes, say—can set off a youngster. In this outing, an adult responds to a toddler’s footwear-related tantrum with one long, single-sentence spiel that is the book’s only text. It begins, “Even when… // because of a shoe… / you are screaming / and you don’t want to be screaming / but you just can’t stop screaming…” Across pages, the caregiver describes the child’s obstinacy, forecasting, among other things, a lifetime spent hating shoes (“You want all the shoes / to go to the bottom of the ocean / and get eaten by a shark”). The point, of course, is that even when the kid is screeching and the adult is “making my maddest face / and my eyes are my maddest eyes,” parent and child still love each other. Fogliano’s text, which could almost pass for a narrative poem, is hilarious, cathartic, and, finally, heartwarming—at least it will be for parents. The parent’s full-throttle narration may confound some little ones, who will pick up cues from Frazee’s emotionally attuned multimedia art, which is in color to start, largely grayscale when the parent is most gloom-and-doomiest, and in color again (whew!) when the two have made their peace. Both characters are pale-skinned redheads.
A funny, wrenching affirmation of a parent’s unconditional love. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9780593707401
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
Still, this young boy’s imagination is a powerful force for helping him deal with life, something that should be true for...
Oliver, of first-day-of-school alligator fame, is back, imagining adventures and still struggling to find balance between introversion and extroversion.
“When Oliver found his egg…” on the playground, mint-green backgrounds signifying Oliver’s flight into fancy slowly grow larger until they take up entire spreads; Oliver’s creature, white and dinosaurlike with orange polka dots, grows larger with them. Their adventures include sharing treats, sailing the seas and going into outer space. A classmate’s yell brings him back to reality, where readers see him sitting on top of a rock. Even considering Schmid’s scribbly style, readers can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he ponders the girl and whether or not to give up his solitary play. “But when Oliver found his rock… // Oliver imagined many adventures // with all his friends!” This last is on a double gatefold that opens to show the children enjoying the creature’s slippery curves. A final wordless spread depicts all the children sitting on rocks, expressions gleeful, wondering, waiting, hopeful. The illustrations, done in pastel pencil and digital color, again make masterful use of white space and page turns, although this tale is not nearly as funny or tongue-in-cheek as Oliver and His Alligator (2013), nor is its message as clear and immediately accessible to children.
Still, this young boy’s imagination is a powerful force for helping him deal with life, something that should be true for all children but sadly isn’t. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: July 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-7573-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
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