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ZACH MAKES MISTAKES

Name: ZACH MAKES MISTAKES
Author: William Mulcahy
ISBN: 978-1-63198-110-4

From the Zach Rules series

by William Mulcahy ; illustrated by Darren McKee ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2016

Not simplistic but relentlessly utilitarian.

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Zach’s inattention to rules on a field trip results in a couple of embarrassing faux pas, but with help from a friend and a teacher he learns how to deal.

As in the two previous Zach Rules episodes, the plot is just a vehicle for conveying coping strategies and constructive responses for less-than-exemplary behaviors. Already mortified to be wearing a humongous school T-shirt on the trip because he forgot to wear his own, Zach is further distressed when he forgets the museum’s “no touching” rule and pats an exhibited bison. But thanks to classmate Sonya’s laughing tale of wearing a costume by mistake to a formal party and Ms. Rosamond’s failure to turn her cellphone off as directed, he doesn’t feel quite so bad. Better yet, Ms. Rosamond sits with him to demonstrate a three-step “Detect-Correct-Reflect” response to messing up and remind him that nobody, child or grown-up, is perfect. For adults who can’t absorb these points from the story, Mulcahy, a professional counselor and psychotherapist, restates them at greater length in smaller type at the end. The default expression in McKee’s cartoon illustrations is fixed, popeyed, and open-mouthed. Zach himself is a light-skinned redhead, but overall the cast displays a range of hair colors and skin tones.

Not simplistic but relentlessly utilitarian. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-63198-110-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing

Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ZACH HANGS IN THERE
by William Mulcahy ; illustrated by Darren McKee

- BOOK REVIEW
ZACH APOLOGIZES
by William Mulcahy & illustrated by Darren McKee

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SPAGHETTI HEAD & CHICKEN FINGERS

by Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal ; illustrated by Erica Salcedo ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2026

Wild and wacky.

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A picture book from the comedy duo known as Rhett & Link, creators of the online juggernaut Good Mythical Morning.

Lumo is obsessed with chicken fingers; Saffy, who is new to town and anxious about starting school, finds comfort in the only food she likes: buttered spaghetti. The night before the first day of school, a thunderstorm rages, and each kid makes a wish—“to have chicken fingers at school,” in Lumo’s case; Saffy wishes for “the first thing off the top of her head: buttered spaghetti.” File under “Be careful what you wish for.” Lumo’s and Saffy’s respective physical changes (chicken fingers for fingers, spaghetti for hair) make navigating school a challenge but bring them together in the cafeteria, where they enjoy some new foods—and their new friendship. The plotting could have been sharper: Why do the kids’ bodies suddenly return to normal? And couldn’t the authors have thought up a less old-hat story-ending punch line? Nevertheless, McLaughlin and Neal get by on their charm, and the plot sets up some funny visuals. Salcedo’s cartoony Photoshop art features well-chosen artifacts from a typical kid’s life and captures the mortification of not fitting in, which will be familiar even to readers who have never experienced breaded fingers or noodle hair. Lumo is brown-skinned and dark-haired; Saffy is pale-skinned with disheveled reddish-brown hair.

Wild and wacky. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: June 16, 2026

ISBN: 9780063474154

Page Count: 32

Publisher: HarperPop/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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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)