A smart and whimsical tale with characters savoring tea and elegant watercolors complementing the verses.
A variety of children, birds, and other creatures cavorts in this debut rhyming picture book.
Listed for ages 3 and up, this volume offers enough magic to charm a bevy of curious readers. An epigraph from George Harrison, “Show me that I’m everywhere and get me home for tea,” sets the tone of travel, delight, and familiar comforts. As with Alice’s adventures beyond the looking glass, kids and animals populate the story, but rather than being hallucinatory and frightening, the various scenes are wondrous and alluring. Some moments are profound. The very first page shows a little owl peeking out of his hole in a craggy tree, the night sky behind a light blue wash with chinks left white or colored yellow for the stars. The facing text is just a couple of lines: “This is me in here. / Is that you out there?” The effect is humbling, suggesting a mutual inquisitiveness between creature and reader—a most welcoming party invitation. Other guests include a winged dog, a fish with large eyelashes, a white rabbit, several birds, three mice with their own teacups, a dark-haired girl, and Bird Face, who appears in a long red coat, blue top hat, and a pointed beak mask. Accompanying his picture, a quatrain with strong rhymes by Ross fills in the character’s story: “He drinks all kinds of teas. / He feeds his birds with peas. / He built his house from cheese.” A few pages later, a slightly crooked multistory house receives its own portrait, with the Eiffel Tower small but stalwart in the distance. Large green shutters accentuate the windows, and the paired text enumerates the residents of each floor. (Ducks with hats live in the penthouse.) Some of the human characters in Usova’s (Mrs. T’s Kooky Pants, 2014, etc.) distinctive illustrations have faces that are pale on one side and darker on the other. Houses are a prominent visual motif in the images, as readers see a lady’s hat that boasts lit windows, a thatch roof in the distance, a castlelike school, and an intimate mouse house under the snow cherries, cozy with a table—and tea—for two in winter.
A smart and whimsical tale with characters savoring tea and elegant watercolors complementing the verses.Pub Date: July 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9903086-0-7
Page Count: 28
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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