A funny tale about a unicorn invasion that’s sure to delight young readers.
In this picture book, a huge fan of unicorns must contend with the creatures’ biggest problems.
Light-skinned, brown-haired Riley is passionate about unicorns, just like everyone else her age. It’s all fun and games when seven of them appear in her garden, until they eat her mother’s flowers. More unicorns arrive when Riley’s walking to school and block the road so the bus can’t get through. They even overrun the town carnival—and where there are unicorns, there is unfortunately poop. The poop may be rainbow and sparkly, but the townspeople get so angry that the mayor declares, “There are too many unicorns!” Just when Riley is ready to give up, a glowing unicorn horn inspires her to try an idea to make the visitors useful, which gets not only the unicorns, but the townspeople on her side as well: “You can’t ever have too many unicorns, because when you really love a unicorn…They really, really love you back.” This laugh-out-loud second picture book from Crafts, after The Apple That Fell Far From the Tree (2024), will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, given the legions of real-life children who love unicorns. Many of them will find the fecal antics downright hilarious (but still tasteful). The lack of explanation as to the unicorns’ origin is the only thing that may bother more critical readers. Haghighi’s bubbly, exaggerated illustrations are polished and perfect for this larger-than-life story.
A funny tale about a unicorn invasion that’s sure to delight young readers.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9781962447461
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Genius Cat Books
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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
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
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