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WHAT SHALL WE TELL YOU?

Name: WHAT SHALL WE TELL YOU?
Author: Wade Hudson
ISBN: 9781662621109

by Wade Hudson ; illustrated by Tonya Engel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 27, 2026

For days survived and days ahead.

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This lyrical tale meets Black children where they are and vows not to leave them there.

“What shall we tell you / when our world / sometimes seems / dark and uninviting?” Hudson’s spare, free-verse poem poses difficult questions without softening the realities that inspire them. Bullying, prejudice, hatred, violence, and loss are acknowledged with quiet honesty before the poem’s collective voice begins its reply: “We shall tell you….” What follows is neither easy nor tidy, but a steady promise of love, hope, justice, and accompaniment from a community determined to help children find light in dark places. With echoes of Walter Dean Myers, Hudson’s poem never claims that the world is kinder than Black children know it to be but instead invites them into a conversation that insists that they will not face that world by themselves. The repeated first-person plural transforms comfort into a community dialogue, suggesting that resilience is collective, practiced together, and offered from one generation to the next. Engel’s luminous paintings deepen that invitation, pairing metaphor-rich imagery with intimate portraits of young people and caregivers whose gestures of encouragement and solidarity quietly expand the poem’s embrace. Author’s and illustrator’s notes further root the work in the creators’ commitment to writing Black children into stories of hope, belonging, and possibility.

For days survived and days ahead. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2026

ISBN: 9781662621109

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Astra Young Readers

Review Posted Online: yesterday

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE DAY MADEAR VOTED
by Wade Hudson ; illustrated by Don Tate

- BOOK REVIEW
THE RECKONING
by Wade Hudson

- BOOK REVIEW
INVINCIBLE
by Wade Hudson ; illustrated by E.B. Lewis

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THE PUMPKIN THIEF

From the Leaf Thief series

by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2026

More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.

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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

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SUN THIEF
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SNOW THIEF
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BISON AND THE BUTTERFLY
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nancy Leschnikoff

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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)