A stunningly crafted tribute to dogs and the lives they enrich.
A parent looks back on a scruffy puppy and realizes what an important teacher she was.
Told through the eyes of an adult reflecting on lessons learned with a childhood dog, this sweet picture book by Santos follows a youngster who spots two puppies at a Sunday market—one pristine, one flea-ridden—and is steered by Mom toward the bedraggled choice. That dog, Luna, becomes the youngster’s teacher for life as she quietly shows the child the importance of listening, having fun, and forgiveness. Seiferling works in her signature brown and white graphite style—seen previously in Bear Wants To Sing (2021) and King Mouse (2019), both by Cary Fagan—and it serves this story beautifully. The technique renders Luna’s shaggy coat with remarkable warmth and texture, while Seiferling deploys color and light with a sure hand: Warm golds suffuse the child’s dreaming face as the dog glows above like a vision, and a winter spread washes the world in cool blues and greens. Compositions shift register confidently; intimate vignettes give way to expansive park scenes teeming with dogs of every description. The story’s final turn (“Last weekend, my daughter turned seven. For her birthday she asked me for a puppy”) gives the book emotional weight and multigenerational resonance that will land hard with parents reading aloud. Human characters have light tan skin.
A stunningly crafted tribute to dogs and the lives they enrich. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781990252419
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Milky Way Picture Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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