A sly seasonal pick for kids craving a dash of agency alongside their dress-up.
A precocious child conjures up a startling alternative to the cutesy costumes of Halloweens past.
“Last year I was a bunny. The year before that I was a mouse.” Indignant after a string of “utterly adorable” Halloween costumes, a rosy-cheeked, black-haired girl with skin the white of the page declares, “My days of adorable are over and done! Because…this year, a witch!” Readers are privy to the process as the impish and expressive witch fully embraces her role. She’s “enlisted the help of an assistant” (her cat) and has been busy “whipping up spells and collecting things for my brew.” Witches are powerful—look out, or she’ll turn you to stone!—and exceedingly independent. As she says, “Witches don’t need their lovies. Or daddies. Or naps,” though a patient grown-up proves helpful with mundane tasks like costume-sewing. Multimedia and Risograph illustrations make magical use of both generous white space and full-bleed spreads and feature vibrant pops of modern Halloween hues, including violet and acidic green. Playfully paced page turns reveal a visual transformation more frightening than even the young witch bargains for, but concise text with emphatic typography keeps the theatrical tone kind-spirited; Abbott perfectly captures youngsters’ often-warring desires for autonomy and reassurance.
A sly seasonal pick for kids craving a dash of agency alongside their dress-up. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781665956024
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Toad and Little Blue Truck get ready for a hayride.
After the titular vehicle is loaded with hay, Toad is nowhere to be found. “Beep! Beep! Beep! Where are you, Toad?” asks Little Blue Truck. All the barnyard animals look for him. Sheep searches the meadow. Goose and Duck check the pond. Others pitch in, too, but Toad seems to have disappeared…until Hen hears snoring coming from the pile of hay in the back of Little Blue Truck. Although the text’s scansion is imperfect in places (adults may want to pre-read to ensure a smooth read-aloud), the bouncy meter and rhyming text nevertheless capture the energy of the search and the farmyard community’s concern for Toad’s safety, making this a solid storytime choice. Eye-catching illustrations with rich, fully saturated colors balance the right level of detail while still highlighting the animal that is the focus of each verse. By introducing one farm animal at a time, Schertle also helps the youngest readers begin to identify barnyard animals by name and understand their unique farm homes. Traditional animal sounds are part of the text, and listeners will add them to their vocabulary. It all ends with the promised hayride, bringing the tale to a joyous ending.
Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026
ISBN: 9780063436121
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
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)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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