A magical portrait of the unique ways we look at life and connect with others.
Undersea adventures await!
Arthur awakens one morning with his bed soaked through. His mother, clad in a snorkel mask and air tank, takes him to the doctor to see what caused his bedwetting. As the doctor, dressed in an atmospheric diving suit, examines Arthur, he finds himself submerged underwater. Arthur’s heartbeat sounds “like a submarine radar,” his breath like “restless dolphins.” After further investigation leads to a playful, more immersive look at Arthur’s undersea world—full of high-spirited fish, mermaids, and whales—the doctor realizes that Arthur misses the thing that he loves most: the sea. Originally published in Brazil and beautifully translated from Portuguese by Dantas Lobato, this is a deeply fantastical look at the rich interior life of a possibly neurodivergent child (Canônica’s author’s note mentions that the book was partly inspired by her experiences with children on the autism spectrum). Massarani’s illustrations, depicting human characters with simple black outlines and relying on a palette of stark shades of blues and greens, portray a world free of restraints where imagination and an abiding love of the ocean reign supreme (front endpapers showcase Arthur in utero underwater surrounded by a school of fish). While Arthur’s mother is justifiably worried, the doctor takes an open-minded approach, honoring the boy’s creative outlook; youngsters with a different perspective will feel seen—and appreciated. All characters have skin the color of the page.
A magical portrait of the unique ways we look at life and connect with others. (illustrator’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 24, 2026
ISBN: 9798988749998
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Tapioca Stories
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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