bookshelf

FIONA & THE FOG

Name: FIONA & THE FOG
Author: William Poor

by William Poor ; illustrated by William Poor ; developed by William Poor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2014

The view is lovely, but it is Fiona’s Homeric voyage through the city that will find readers charged with their own...

bookshelf

A blend of photos and animated elements showcases Poor’s story of a girl pursuing a windblown scarf, much as a boy did a red balloon, and experiencing a great city in the process.

A mischievous wind with inspired ulterior motives snatches a girl’s scarf during a foggy day in San Francisco when it hears her complain that she is bored. As a silent messenger, it takes her on a tour of her great city and introduces her to some of its citizens: a pelican that cares for a lighthouse, one of the city’s fabled parrot escapees, sea lions and a red crab that lives under a pier. They are an amiable crew who are familiar with the wind’s curious behavior by now, and each pressures Fiona on to the next stop, which ends with a tattered rope ladder leading through the fog above to a grand, panoptical view. The fog is everywhere here, as in San Francisco it ought to be, lending mystery to the story’s progression as it gets soupier and soupier. The girl’s movement through the city precincts is peaceful but absorbing, and the end is quietly satisfying. The story’s backgrounds are actual photos of the city, the animated elements infusing them with lightness and a trompe l’oeil quality.

The view is lovely, but it is Fiona’s Homeric voyage through the city that will find readers charged with their own wanderlust. (Requires iOS 7 and above.) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2014

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: William Poor

Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2014

bookshelf

BETTER THAN A TOUCHDOWN

by Jalen Hurts ; illustrated by Nneka Myers ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2026

Earnest and well meaning but not quite a touchdown.

bookshelf

In Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Hurts’ motivational picture book, a youngster rebounds from disappointment.

As Jalen heads off on his first day of school, he daydreams about joining the football team, but his friend Trey soon breaks the bad news. The garden club needed more space for vegetables, so the football field was used for planting. There will be no football this year. Jalen is despondent, but his teachers Mrs. Lee and Mr. Barry and bodega owner Mr. Muhammad offer guidance that spurs him and his friends into positive action. They work to flip a nearby empty lot into a football field, with Jalen echoing his mentors’ adages. Once the field is complete, Jalen feels a swell of pride in his and his friends’ work. While the idea of kids working together to effect change is a laudable one, the bland, wordy storytelling won’t inspire young people or hold their attention. Tired, cliched inspirational comments peppered throughout often slow down the narrative, and many adult readers will find the premise—a school dropping a high-interest sports program in favor of a community garden—wildly unrealistic. Though the illustrations are colorful, with a Disney Junior charm, strange stylistic choices, such as signs with odd combinations of scribbles instead of letters, give them an unpolished look. Like Hurts, Jalen is Black; his community is diverse.

Earnest and well meaning but not quite a touchdown. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 10, 2026

ISBN: 9798217040308

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Flamingo Books

Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

bookshelf

HOW TO CATCH THE EASTER BUNNY

From the How To Catch… series

by Adam Wallace ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2017

This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.

bookshelf

The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.

The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.

This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)